N7bn Allocation To Environment Ministry Inadequate – Minister

The Minister of Envi
ronment, Mrs Laurentia Mallam, has said that the N7 billion allocated to her ministry in the 2014 budget was inadequate.
Mallam, who appeared before the National Conference Committee on Environment to brief members on environmental issues in the country, said that the ministry could not carry out “vital projects”.
In her presentation to the committee, she stressed the need for the ministry to pay its counterpart fund in order to carry out some identified vital projects.
Mallam lamented that the ministry could not pay counterpart fund and canvassed the inclusion of environment issues in the in the constitution.
“Every of our conclusion in our presentation ended by lamenting that counterpart funding is not being paid and the simple reason is the issue of funding.
“The entire budget for the Ministry of Environment is N7 billion. Look at all the activities that the ministry will have to undertake to bring about the desired changes.
“With N7 billion and for the ministry to still cope with paying counterpart fund is an issue that this committee will need to look into,” she said.
Represented by Mr Jonathan Ashake, her Chief of Staff, Mallam said funding was “an obvious obstacle that stands in the way to bringing about innovation in the ministry”.
The minister called on the committee to come up with recommendations on policies and laws that could strengthen the activities of the ministry.
She also pledged to provide the committee with the necessary information to help address environmental issues in the country.
Earlier in her remarks, the Chairman of the committee, Sen. Florence Ita-Giwa, said the minister was invited because the input of the ministry was vital to the committee’s work.
Ita-Giwa said the committee grouped all the issues under environment into four sub-groups based on its terms of reference, and consequently set up four sub-committees to address those issues.
According to her, the thematic areas the sub-groups are working on include pollution, gas flaring, environmental degradation and oil spillage and waste management and mining.
Others were meteorology, climate change, flooding, gully and coastal erosion, natural disaster; and afforestation, drought, bush burning, desertification and protection of bio-diversity.
“The sub-committees have been working day and night and we are on the verge of concluding our reports but we couldn’t submit the reports without inputs from you,” Ita-Giwa said.