Perekeme Kpodoh a former security adviser in Bayelsa State has called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to stop giving ecological funds to the Governors, for failing to use the money allocated for projects required to mitigate flood disasters in their domains.
He argued that the recurrent destructive effects of floods across the country were enough evidence that ecological funds were being diverted by governors.
Kpodoh in a statement, sent to reporters, in Yenagoa on Tuesday 11th October 2022, said the failures of the governors to plan against flood, had led to the loss of lives, destruction of properties, and farmlands, and displacement of millions from their homes because of unmitigated flood disasters.
Kpodoh advised President Muhammadu Buhari to send ecological funds directly to flood-prone communities to help them embark on projects including the construction of high-rise assembly points in their areas to deal with the recurrent disaster.
The security expert called on Buhari to compel the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to probe the governors’ diversion of the ecological funds.
Kpodoh said: “The governors must be compelled to account for the ecological funds allocated to them by the Federal Government. These funds are supposed to be used for projects necessary to mitigate the negative effects of floods.
“Despite collecting these billions of naira, we have not seen what these governors are doing with the money. Every year floods remain the same. Innocent people have been swept away, properties are destroyed, houses are submerged and farmlands are wasted.
“We cannot continue like this. It is high time the Presidency, the National Assembly, and civil society groups worked together to remove the immunity clause covering these governors and making them unaccountable.
“We are also calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to compel the EFCC and the ICPC to probe these governors and the diversion of funds allocated to them to solve ecological problems like flooding”.
