The Anambra State Government announced on Friday that it spent N1.58 billion on waste disposal between January and October of 2021.
Dr. Emmanuel Okafor, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, made the disclosure before the State House of Assembly Committee on Finance and Appropriation during the 2021 budget assessment and 2022 budget defense.
Okafor also stated in Awka that N3.8 million was spent on erosion control throughout the state.
“The ministry’s budget for the year 2021 was N2.166 billion, and so far we have carried out two major projects, waste disposal, where we spent N1.58 billion, and erosion control, where we spent N3.8 million,” he said.
“We also conducted routine monitoring of the state’s five forest reserves.”
“Due to a lack of funds, we were unable to carry out all of our proposed projects.” We had to make do with the funds that had been released to the ministry during that time period.”
Other ministries’ agencies complained about the non-release of funds allotted to them to carry out projects.
Mr Chido Obidiegwu, Managing Director of the Clear Drainage and Forest Preservation Agency, stated that no funds from the N255 million budgeted for 2021 have been released to the agency.
“We were supposed to desilt canals, clear drains to control flooding, and recruit and equip more forest guards to protect our forest reserves.”
“We wrote a lot of proposals to get funds,” he said, “but nothing was released to the agency in 2021.”
Mr Amaechi Akaora, Managing Director of the Anambra State Waste Management Authority, also spoke, stating that the agency was able to access N64.5 million out of the N305 million allotted to it.
Mrs. Ify Atogu, the Managing Director of the state’s Leisure Parks and Street Beautification Agency, also complained that the agency received N1.5 million out of a N300 million budget allocation in 2021.
Mr Lawrence Ezeudu, Member of Parliament for Dunukofia Constituency and Chairman of the House Committee on Environment, reacted by criticizing the ministry’s 26% budget performance.
“Given that our state is prone to flooding and erosion, the Ministry of Environment is one of the key ministries that should be given serious attention in terms of funding.”
“In the 2022 budget, we will carry out our legislative functions and recommend adequate funding releases to ensure better budget performance,” Ezeudu stated.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the Ministry of Environment received N3.42 billion in the 2022 budget proposal.