The House of Representatives, have said it uncovered how the National Agency for Great Green Wall allegedly spent 81.2 billion naira to plant 21 million trees across 11 frontline states. The states are: Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Yobe and Borno.
The lawmakers, who spoke during an investigative hearing on ‘Utilisation of ecological funds released to NAGGW from 2015 till date’, queried some of the expenditures made during the period under review.
The committee was headed by Isma’ila Dabo. The lawmakers expressed displeasure over conflicting financial reports submitted by the Central Bank of Nigeria, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation and the agency. Lawmakers, who spoke after scrutinising documents submitted to the committee, noted that 697.3 million naira, 500 million naira and 480.6 million naira was spent on renovation of office accommodation, while 11.2 billion naira was spent on capital projects and constituency projects.
The lawmakers also queried rationale for warehousing billions of naira in the agency’s account for several years without returning such money to government’s coffers, in line with extant financial regulations.
Lamenting that the agency did not carry out any audit of its finances since inception, the lawmakers frowned at the humongous amount spent on capacity building and other subheads, which are alien to mandates of the NAGGW.
Investigators said the illicit transfers were carried out in collaboration with some financial banks and Bureaux de Change.
