By Obiabin Onukwugha
Despite the growing environmental crises confronting communities across Nigeria, the Federal Government allocates only two per cent of the Federation Account to the Ecological Fund, raising concerns over whether the intervention mechanism has enough resources to respond effectively to the country’s worsening ecological problems.
The Ecological Fund was established in 1988 to provide resources for tackling environmental emergencies and ecological challenges, including erosion, flooding, desertification, drought, oil spills and other disasters.
But decades after its creation, Nigeria’s environmental problems have continued to expand, with communities battling erosion, recurrent flooding, land degradation, coastal degradation and the impacts of climate change.
Data obtained from the Office of the Secretary to the Federation (OSF) shows that two per cent of the Federation Account is set aside monthly for ecological interventions.
The allocation is shared among the Federal Government, states, local governments and the Federal Capital Territory, with the Federal Government receiving 50 per cent, states 24 per cent, local governments 20 per cent and the FCT six per cent.
According to the available breakdown, about 45 to 50 per cent of the budgeted ecological allocation is earmarked for flood and erosion control, including gully erosion remediation and river channelisation.
Another 15 to 20 per cent is allocated to desertification and drought interventions, including activities under the Great Green Wall programme and the development of shelterbelts across 11 frontline states.
Between 10 and 15 per cent is earmarked for oil spill-related environmental degradation, including support for the Ogoni cleanup through the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP.
A further 10 to 15 per cent goes to disaster relief and interventions by the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, while about five per cent is allocated to research, surveys and early-warning systems involving agencies such as the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, NIHSA, and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NiMet.
Yet, available project data raises questions about how effectively the funds are translating into completed projects on the ground.
Information from the Ecological Fund indicates that between 2015 and 2017, 88 projects were embarked upon, but only 57 had been completed, while the remaining projects were at different stages of execution.
Among the projects with low completion rates were the Ondo State Township Erosion Control Project, which stood at 30 per cent completion, and the Alebiri Shore Protection Project in Bayelsa State, which recorded 40 per cent completion. The data however did not indicate any ongoing Ecological Fund project in Rivers State during the period.
The available data suggest that many completed projects were concentrated in townships and urban centres, while several rural communities facing serious ecological threats appeared to have received less attention.
Available data show that approximately N53.9 billion was released to states in 2020 as part of Federation Account ecological disbursements. The figure dropped to about N40.35 billion in 2021 before rising to approximately N41.8 billion in 2022.
Available figures indicate that 36 states collectively received about N39.62 billion over a 12-month period from June 2023 to June 2024. In the first nine months of 2025, states reportedly received N51.87 billion, while local governments received N42.75 billion, bringing the combined allocation to N94.62 billion.
The Federal Ministry of Environment also earmarked N6 billion in its 2025 budget for direct erosion and flood-control projects nationwide. However, there is no readily available project-level data on the Ecological Fund websites or from the OSF showing how the funds have been utilised for projects from 2018 to date.
That information gap has raised questions about transparency, accountability and the actual impact of ecological allocations at federal, state and local government levels.
At the state and local government levels, there is also limited publicly available information linking monthly ecological allocations to specific environmental projects.
Nigeria’s environmental burden
The funding concerns come at a time when Nigeria is facing environmental challenges on several fronts.
Across the South-East, states such as Anambra, Imo, Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi are grappling with severe gully erosion that continues to destroy homes, roads and farmland.
Parts of the South-South and South-West, including Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Ondo and Ogun, are also experiencing serious erosion and coastal degradation.
In Cross River State, for instance, heavy rainfall and severe soil erosion recently triggered a landslide that caused part of the UNICEM Hospital in Calabar to collapse.
In northern Nigeria, desertification, drought, deforestation, wind erosion and land degradation continue to threaten livelihoods.
States including Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara are among areas affected by the advancing pressures of land degradation and desert encroachment.
Annual Flooding.
Flooding has become an annual threat in many parts of the country, destroying homes, roads, farms, schools and other critical infrastructure.
The 2026 Annual Flood Outlook released by NIHSA warned that 33 states are at risk of flooding between April and November.
The agency identified 30,707 communities, 4,792 healthcare facilities, 10,684 schools and educational facilities and about 4.2 million hectares of farmland as being at risk.
The highest risk period for communities, healthcare facilities and schools was identified as July to September, while farmland and cropland face their highest risk between October and November.
States identified as having high risk flooding include Kogi, Niger, Delta, Anambra, Benue, Kebbi, Rivers, Bayelsa, Adamawa and Cross River.
Inadequate Funding:
For environmental experts, the 2 percent allocation from the federation account is realistically not enough to meet the country’s growing ecological need sees
A renowned climate change and environmental expert, AVM Akugbe Iyamu (rtd.), during an interview argued that the N109.5 billion released between July 2023 and December 2025 as recently reported for rom the office of the Accountant General of the federation was grossly inadequate to address Nigeria’s environmental challenges.
Speaking on Arise TV’s Morning Show recently, Iyamu argued that environmental disasters cannot be effectively tackled through fragmented funding. “Addressing disaster is not piecemeal releases. You would have thought that this N100 billion was released at a time,” he said.
Iyamu recalled that the Ecological Fund was established specifically to respond to environmental challenges and is also recognised under Section 20 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
“When the Ecological Fund was set up by President Shehu Shagari and activated, it was specifically directed to deal with the issue of environment N100 billion is too small if you are going to deal with the issues of the environment. N100 billion is far, far too small,” he stated.
Iyamu continued: “Nigeria must live with its own risks. Living with your own risk means that you must deal with the issue of climate change according to the geographical differences of the country.”
The environmental expert highlighted that the federal government needs to rethink not only how much it allocates funds to ecological emergencies but also how the money is managed. “The 33 states and 144 communities highlighted in the NiHSA Outlook are not new. They have been there and it is becoming very precarious because geography is destiny,” he stated.
