The Senate has criticised the Federal Government for misusing funds totalling N783bn accruing to the Natural Resources Fund, a special account that warehouses 1.68 per cent of balance in the Federation Account.
The special account, domiciled at the Federal Ministry of Finance, was created to fund the solid minerals sector as a means of divesting from crude oil exploration.
The Senate’s Public Accounts Committee, during a recent investigation, had discovered series of abuses, accusing the Federal Government of withdrawing billions of naira from the account on an annual basis for purposes completely different from what it was designated for.
A motion brought by Senator Abu Ibrahim and 62 others on Tuesday on the development of the solid minerals sector as a panacea to the bankruptcy of states of the federation, highlighted the poor budgetary allocation to solid minerals development annually.
Ibrahim, while leading the debate, said, “The Natural Resources Fund, which is 1.68 per cent of the Federation Account, and which is supposed to fund the solid minerals sector has never been used to fund the sector.
“It is reported that this year, over N250bn of the fund has been withdrawn and utilised elsewhere. The solid minerals sector has not benefited from the Natural Resources Fund and that the fund accrued into it is being utilised in secrecy.”
He said the 13 per cent derivation formula as provided for by the Constitution had not been applied to the solid minerals sector.
Ibrahim said the exploration of solid mineral resources would generate revenue for the states and provide jobs, but overdependence on oil resources had created “widespread poverty, unemployment, social decay, infrastructural distortions and general insecurity in many parts of the country.”
According to him, the solid minerals sector is inadequately funded, observing that capital budgetary allocations for the sector in 2011, 2012 and 2013 were N2.9bn, N3.2bn and N1bn, respectively.
“There is an absence of solid minerals development fund as provided for under the Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act, 2007, which stipulates special fund for developing the sector,” the lawmaker said.
He added that the country’s solid minerals survey indicated the presence of 32 strategic minerals resources in commercial quantities spread across the states of the federation.
While the Senate mandated its Committee on Solid Minerals to undertake a holistic assessment of the sector, it turned down the prayer to embark on an investigation into the Natural Resources Fund on the grounds that the Public Accounts Committee had done the job and its report was currently before the Senate.
The Chairman of the Senate Public Accounts Committee, Senator Ahmed Lawan, expressed concerns over the state of solid minerals development, noting that the committee discovered that about N783bn of the special fund had been misused.
He called on the Senate to immediately consider the report of his committee on the special account to ensure that the abuses were stopped.
The Deputy Leader of the Senate, Senator Abdul Ningi, said states had no powers under the law to mine minerals, suggesting that there should be a review of the extant laws on mining.