Go and Showcase Our Achievements, Buhari Directs Ministers, Heads of Parastatals

•Says 266 ecological projects completed since 2015

Deji Elumoye

President Muhammadu Buhari, has directed ministers and heads of departments and agencies to go and showcase the achievements of his administration in the last seven years by publicizing them.

He also disclosed that under his watch no fewer than 266 ecological projects have been completed across the country since 2015.

Speaking yesterday at the State House, Abuja, while launching a compendium of ecological projects undertaken by his administration,

the president directed Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to without further delay showcase their performance and achievements to the public.

He disclosed that 332 ecological projects were approved during the period in review, out of which 266 were accomplished while the remaining 66 were at different stages of completion.

Buhari who launched the publication before the commencement of the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, commended the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Management Team of the Ecological Project Office (EPO), for the judicious use of available resources for the effective implementation of approved projects, as well as the initiative for the publication.

The president stated: “The enormity of Nigeria’s ecological problems and inherited infrastructure deficit in general, has the tendency, like the proverbial drop in the ocean, to always drown our achievements in addressing ecological challenges and infrastructure deficit at large.

“It is against this background that publications like the one being launched today, become very important and a useful tool in correcting the negative public perception, that government has not done anything in addressing these challenges.

“The documentation and publication of these achievements in our modest effort to tackle ecological problems is, therefore, predicated on our quest to improve communication in governance, as a tool for keeping citizens well-informed and helping them to hold government accountable. This is the most significant implication of the Ecological Project Office’s initiative in publishing this compendium.”

The President noted that the Compendium, which was for the reading pleasure and knowledge of Nigerians, would bridge the information and communication gap between Nigerians and the real-time performance of his administration by portraying the specific locations of ecological projects, with pictorial evidence as well as proofs of handing over the projects to the beneficiaries.

He, therefore, urged states and local governments to judiciously use their shares of the ecological fund, strictly for ecological projects towards addressing the ecological problems in their areas.

Speaking earlier, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, told the president that the 554-page publication supervised by the Permanent Secretary, EPO, Dr Habiba Lawal, was aimed at keeping the public abreast of the efforts of the administration in addressing verified ecological problems in all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

He thanked the president for promoting the culture of accountability and for approving the change of name of Ecological Fund Office to EPO, for its mandate not to be misconstrued by the public.

“The Office was established through the Federation Account Act in 1981, primarily to carry out intervention projects nationwide with the federal government share of the ecological funds, to address critical ecological problems to supplement states and local government shares of the fund,” he said.

On the federal government share of the Ecological Fund, the SGF explained that the latest sharing formula of the Ecological and Derivation Fund (EDF) as modified, allocates 1.00 per cent to the federal government, 0.72 per cent to states while the local governments get 0.60 per cent.

He added that out of the 1.00 per cent of the federal government share, monthly, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), gets 20 per cent, National Agency for Great Green Wall (NAGGW), gets 5 per cent, North East Development Commission (NEDC), gets10 per cent while the National Agricultural Development Agency (NALDA) receives 10 per cent.