In 2022, the total budget for flood and erosion control stood at N106 million, while the budget in 2023 stood at N90 million and 2024 stands at N100 million
A SaharaReporters' review of the budget performance documents has shown that Kogi State government spent only N14.5 million on flood and erosion control between 2022 and half year 2024.
In 2022, the total budget for flood and erosion control stood at N106 million, while the budget in 2023 stood at N90 million and 2024 stands at N100 million.
The document shows that in 2022, the actual sum of N4 million was spent while N9 million was spent in 2023, and another sum of N8.6 million spent between January and June, 2024.
This development is despite the state receiving N1.386 billion between September 2023 and July 2024 as ecological funds.
Data reviewed from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee report published by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that in September 2023, the sum of N151.71 million was received by the state as ecological funds, N110.14 million in October, N108.55 million in November, N139.71 million in December, N124.45 million in January, N137.80 million in February, N113.8 million in March, N106.3 million in April, N126.5 million in May, N117.1 million in June, and N150.9 million in July.
Displaced persons data in 2022 for Kogi state
SaharaReporters earlier reported that over 200 communities in Kogi State have been submerged as flooding continues to ravage parts of the state, leaving nearly two million people displaced.
This is even as state government called on the Nigerian government and international donor agencies for immediate intervention.
Addressing journalists at Kotonkarfe, Kingsley Fanwo, the Kogi State Commissioner for Information and Communications, warned of a looming "humanitarian crisis."
The calls for support and warning on a crisis is despite data showing the poor expenditure of the state itself to flood and erosion control.
Kogi state was also one of the more affected states by flooding in 2022.
The United Nations Migration office puts the data on number of persons affected by flooding in Kogi state in 2022 at 472,218.
There have been concerns on the extent of accountability by states in the management of ecological funds, with the fund said to be subjected to opacity and shrewd secrecy.