By Linus Aleke
The Green Chamber of the National Assembly,has constituted an Ad hoc Committee to investigate the utilization of ecological funds released to the Great Green Wall by the International Organizations from 2015 to date.
The House of Representatives, said, it will also investigate the total sum received through the policy and the level of compliance with the goals and objectives of the project, and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.
This, the Parliament said, is in addition to all federal allocations to the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) as well as contracts awarded to various contractors for the project from 2015 to date.
The probe, it added is premised on the adoption of a motion, “Need to Investigate the Utilization of Ecological Funds Released for the Great Green Wall from 2015 to Date,” sponsored by Hon. David Abel Fuoh, Hon. Zacharia Nyampa, Hon. Shetima Ali Lawan and Hon. Olusola Fatoba.
Also, the House in a separate motion, mandated its Committee on Pilgrims Affairs to conduct a detailed investigation into the several anomalies that emanated from the 2023 Hajj.
The Parliament disclosed that the Great Green Wall Initiative for the Sahara and Sahel, was initiated and adopted by the Head of States and Governments of the African Union in 2005 to address the issues of desertification, land degradation, Bio-diversity loss, promote climate change resilience by ecosystems and communities and improve food security in about 21 countries of the Sahel region in Africa.
The House said it was also aware that the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGVW) is a Nigerian federal agency under the Federal Ministry of Environment, established to address land degradation and desertification and support communities to adapt to climate change in the Nigeria States of Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa,Yobe and Zamfara.
“100 households are targeted for this programme and about 16,800 women and youths would be beneficiaries of the initiative to combat the effect of climate change as Nigeria worked toward the 2060 target of zero carbon emission that pollutes air. We are cognizant of Nigeria’s commitment to global environmental sustainability and achievement of the Country’s Nationally Determined Contribution’s (NDC), which has been pegged at 20 per cent emissions reduction. This was an unconditional commitment by Nigeria, to the world while it strived to meet the globally set standard of 47per cent emission reduction conditionally adopted as a target by 2030,” the motion further noted.
The House, however, informed that the 2021 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization countries claimed to have spent about $200m in the Great Green Wall since the project began.
The UN agency further informed that the barricaded garden contract was to raise over 76,000 assorted seedlings and the projects were awarded by NAGGW to Dabellfari Nigeria Limited (N6, 390,932.08) and KLGM International Limited (N2, 689,442.5) in 2017. Aside from the lump sum, there was EU and FAO support of 20m Euros (N8.2 billion) and $4 billion (N1,4 trillion) from the United Nations which totals (N1, 452,260,000,000).
The House expressed concerned that from the findings, Š4 billion commitment was joint support from France, African Development Bank (AFDB), Global Environment Facility ($115, million), World Bank ($1.9 billion)
and aid from some African Leaders, in 2015 during COP 21.
It said the AFDB President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina revealed that the Bank has so far released $22 billion for the project and pledged to mobilize an additional $50 billion to provide clean energy for Africa including the Sahara-Sahel region.
The House was also concerned that the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) through Joint
Support Commitment made available $8 billion to support all 20 African countries including the 11 primary nations and Nigeria’s 11 front-line states.
The Parliament further informed that the federal government had through the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) earmarked expenditure of N182, 988,974 for the communities and another N200 million for what it termed the “Starter Pack” for women in the areas.
In conclusion, the House expressed worries that with all the funds released from International Organizations, foreign donors and Nigerian government through yearly budgetary allocations, nothing tangible is on ground to justify the release made so far.
On the 2023 Hajj, the House mandated its Committee on Pilgrims Affairs to conduct a detailed investigation into the several anomalies that emanated from the 2023 Hajj.
The Committee is to report back to the
House within four weeks for further legislative action.
The probe of the 2023 Hajj, the Parliament said, followed the adoption of a motion, “Need to Investigate the Untold Hardship Faced by Nigerian Pilgrims at the Recently Concluded 2023 Hajj sponsored by Hon. Ahmed Idris on Thursday.
The House also noted that over 95,000 Nigerian pilgrims, performed the recently concluded Hajj exercise in the Holy Land of Saudi Arabia.
The said that Chapter 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)
particularly Section 14(2) (b) provides thus: “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”.
It informed that a total of about 95, 000 slots were allocated to Nigeria, which was coordinated by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), pursuant to Section 4, it is charged with the mandate of providing effective and efficient Hajj and Umrah services to Nigerian pilgrims.
The House further said that this year’s Hajj recorded one of the largest turnouts in its history with Al Jazeera and other International media putting the figure at about 2.5 million pilgrims.
The House added that it was aware that Nigerian pilgrims were subjected to untold hardships during the Hajj exercise from the inability of some airlines (such as Arik), to lift pilgrims due to lack of aircraft; lack of adequate tent accommodation at Mina and Arafat; substandard tents with unhealthy living conditions and environment; lack of proper medical attention to pilgrims in cases of emergency; lack of proper transportation logistics for Nigerian pilgrims; Nigerians being made to miss their flights due to stringent bottlenecks regarding withholding of their International Passports; and inability to secure airport slots for Nigerian airline operators for lifting of Nigerian pilgrims from Saudi Arabia back to the country and many others.
The House said it was also aware that over 25,000 Nigerian pilgrims (including those who paid for Tent A VIP Class) were stranded at Mina due to inadequate tents and oversubscription leaving Nigerian pilgrims sleeping on the roads, under bridges and nearby mosques.
It noted that there were cases of several
public officials (such as present and former Governors, Senators and Hon. Members) who had no tent and were made to sleep in unhealthy places and conditions
The House further noted that VIP Pilgrims were made to pay about $5,000 for VIP tents and despite this exorbitant amount, pilgrims were stranded while others got tents of lesser value than what they paid for
“Some tour operators perpetrated the worst form of unprofessionalism by failing to provide services promised to pilgrims in terms of accommodation, tent, feeding or transportation. We are disturbed that there was the absence of emergency medical services for sick patients in distress at Mina camp as many distressed patients could not be attended to due to restrictions of Ambulance access to the camp. We are also disturbed that most Nigerian pilgrims were made to miss their flights and had to procure new tickets without justifiable cause due to disturbing bottlenecks placed by Hajj Service Centers (especially Service Centre No. 16) who withheld passports of pilgrims until a lengthy list of bottlenecks
are fulfilled,” the House said.
The Parliament concluded that the Agency mandated to cater for Pilgrim Affairs (NAHCON) has not been proactive in ameliorating the plight of Nigerians during the 2023 Hajj.
