A Civil Society Organisation (CSO), Budget Implementation, Assessment, Evaluation and Monitor Committee has faulted allegations by the House of Representatives over allegations that the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) spent N81.2 billion to plant trees.
The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Utilisation of Ecological Funds and other intervention funds into the Great Green Wall Project had last week called out the agency for the huge expenditure without commensurate results.
Speaking on behalf of group, Comrade Johnny Emmanuel, urged the national assembly to apply more caution and decorum in handling matters to avoid misrepresentation, which may bring to disrepute the hard-earned integrity of those who are their partners in progress.
Emmanuel said the amount was not only for planting of trees, adding that it was meant for other issues in line with the responsibility of the agency.
According to him, the agency has a unique mandate which is transforming Nigerian Drylands through an aggressive and robust tree-planting campaign program.
He said it became imperative to check out facts to avoid a misrepresentation that could be antithetical to the achievements of the agency’s set goals.
He highlighted the achievements of the Agency under the leadership of Dr. Yusuf Maina Bukar which include, transparent leadership, accountability and human capital development.
He said: Yusuf Maina Bukar is one leader who believes in and practices due process in coordinating the affairs of the National Agency for the Great Green Wall in line with the Act of the Agency; working with relevant authority, stakeholders, youths, CSOs and NGOs to realize the core mandate of the Agency.
“Dr. Yusuf Maina Bukar is transparent in all the activities of the agency under his watch. In its accountability in service, the agency has promoted local, national, and international conferences that champion the cause of planting many trees, thereby creating a green society that has brought about ecological advantage and also saved the lives of our ecological habitats. Thus promoting the UN Habitant agenda and climate policy of the United Nations. Such as; the Bonny Island Green Wall Development Programme and the Northern Sahara Desert Great Green Wall Programme to mention a few.
“The National Agency for the Great Green Wall under the pragmatic and transparent leadership of Dr. Yusuf Maina Bukar has empowered many youths, NGOs, and CSOs in the area of capacity building, knowledge, and skills in Federal, State and Local community levels for the effective implementation of green wall projects.