From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
An active citizen, a civil society member, and an OGP enthusiast, Yusuf Ishaku Goje has taken a deep dive Into the 2024 Third-Quarter Budget Performance of the Ministry of Environment Spending.
In a statement made available to the media in Kaduna yesterday, Goje said the Ministry of Environment & Natural Resources has taken center stage in addressing the pressing issue of climate change.
According to him, to combat this, Kaduna State is implementing a multi-sectoral climate budget tagging system, enabling the government and civil society to track and monitor climate-related expenditures effectively.
He adds: “This system is vital for identifying and evaluating policy-budget linkages and ensuring transparency in climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts in the state.”
The Activist explained that as of the 2024 third quarter, the sub-sectors Ministry, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) combined performance stood at 49.3%, with N2.29 billion spent out of its revised budget of N4.6 billion.
He added that the sub-sector’s revised budget accounts for merely 1.0% of the State’s total revised budget, while its third-quarter expenditure represents 0.8% of the State’s total expenditure during the same period.
“The mother Ministry accounts for 96.5% (N2.20 billion) of sub-sectors expenditures. The Kaduna State Environmental Protection Authority (KEPA) and Kaduna State Mining Development Company followed suit, spending N60.7 million and N12.5 million, respectively.
“Notably, personnel costs gulped N357.3 million, while N5.9 million was spent on overhead costs and N1.9 billion on capital expenditures.
“A deeper dive shows, under the expenditures by economic classification, that N6.1 billion out of N11.2 billion was spent on environmental preservation. Furthermore, the breakdown shows that tree planting, which achieved a 4.6% performance with N40.6 million spent, and N1.8 billion out of its N2.1 billion revised budget was expended on Erosion & Flood Control.
“Other key areas of focus were Industrial Pollution Preservation & Control (N37.9 million), Water Pollution Prevention & Control (N4.2 billion), and Solid Waste Management/Refuse Evacuation Exercise and Dumpsite Management (N5.8 million), with the latter achieving a 0.6% performance.
“In addition, N2.3 billion was spent out of the revised budget of N5.4 billion on environmental protection, under the functional classification.
“This expenditure is broken down into key areas, including waste management, which accounted for N159.9 million; protection of biodiversity and landscape, which received N1.0 billion; and environmental protection N.E.C., which received N1.1 billion.
“Notably, some budget line items from the 2024 approved budget were not reflected in the budget performance report.
“These items include Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Activities, allocated N322.1 million; Construction of Weather Station and Installation of Equipment in Kaduna, allocated N70.7 million; and Forest Reserve Management and Monitoring using GIS Application, allocated N128.4 million, among others.
“In conclusion, having less than 50% performance for the sub-sector is below expectations.
“The State government needs to prioritize timely cash-backed releases, including counterpart funding in the fourth quarter.
“It is time for the State government to put its money where its mouth is for the sub-sector MDAs to be able to effectively address challenges of climate change, promote environmental protection, and enhance natural resources management”, he concluded.
