The Senate has called for provision of special funding for federal ministry of environment to tackle erosion, flooding and other environmental challenges across the country.

Chairman of the Senate committee on environment, Sen. Olubiyi Fadeyi, made the call when the ministry officials appeared to defend the 2026 budget of the ministry on Thursday.

Mr Fadeyi said fund appropriated annually to the ministry and its agencies was ‘very inadequate’ to tackle the environmental issues. 

He listed the issues that required urgent attention to include: environmental management, erosion control, environmental health, forest protection and other forms of environmental degradation.

Others are: pollution and drainage mitigation as well as coastal flood mitigation.

He stressed the need for ensuring release of appropriated funds for the discharge of the mandates of the ministry.

“We must focus on solutions that addresses oil pollution, control tools from the enforcement and clean-up technology and erosion control to protect our lands and the environment,” he said.

The senator said that efforts should be intensified on coastal flood mitigation, shoreline protection, forestation, land reclamation processes, agriculture and land repair.

He emphasised the importance of Nigeria meeting its environmental obligations and commitments to climate-related organisations.

“Doing so will unlock international climate finance and strengthen our global partnerships.

“This committee remains committed to ensuring transparency, accountability and impact-raising budgets so that together, we can deliver a cleaner, safer and more resilient Nigeria.

“This committee shall discharge its constitutional mandate for oversights and ensure that all forests are protected and released to respect climate-related guidelines,” he said.

The minister of environment, Balarabe Lawal, said that the ministry had the responsibility to care and ensure quality environment for good health and wellbeing of cities and promote sustainable use of natural resources.

Mr Lawal said that the structure of the 2026 budget proposal was anchored on the needs of the people, agenda of the present administration and the national development plan.

According to him, it aligns with priority areas of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, including unlocking energy for sustainable development and boosting agriculture to achieve food security, among others.

He said that the ministry was working to address fundamental issues that affect the nation’s forests, saying that the ministry was still expecting release of funds for some of its capital projects.

Mr Lawal said that the ministry had embarked on provision of solar-powered boreholes and solar street lights across the country.

He said that the ministry also embarked on flood aggression control, given the serious cases of flood, particularly in the northern part of the country.

According to him, the 2026 budget estimate is a roll-over of most projects in 2025. 

(NAN)