El-Rufai wants Nigerian govt to transfer Ecological Fund to environment ministry

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on Saturday called for the transfer of the Ecological Fund to the Federal Ministry of Environment, saying the ministry had the expertise and national reach to manage the fund more efficiently.

The governor made the call when the Minister of Environment, Dr. Mohammad Abubakar, presented one million seedlings to the state government for planting across the state.

El-Rufai said it was absolutely important for the Ecological Fund to be domiciled in the ministry because the fund was meant to fight environmental erosion, deforestation, desertification and other environmental issues.

He said: “Apart from that, the ministry has the knowledge, technicality and expertise as well as the national reach to better manage the fund and utilise it for the benefit of the entire country.”

READ ALSO: NDDC seeks lawmakers’ support to access pending N60bn from ecological fund

The governor revealed that a committee he headed during the first term of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration recommended the transfer of the fund to the ministry.

According to him, the matter was presented to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and a decision was taken on it, but the resolution has not been implemented.

He regretted that Kaduna State has lost a lot of its forest in the last few years before the advent of his administration, adding that the state is being re-forested again.

‘’In the last five years, we have been planting 1.5 million trees every year. Only about 50 percent of the trees survive, but we have not given up.

“It is an investment that we are willing to make for our children and grandchildren,’’ El-Rufai added.

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