The Minister of State for Finance and National Planning, Clement Agba, has disclosed that Nigeria got $26.94 billion foreign assistance inflows into various sectors in the last six years.

He disclosed this on Tuesday when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Civil Society and Development Partners.

He said the funds were provided to undertake various interventions across the country by foreign donors, International Non Governmental Organisations (INGOs) and other bodies.

Agba said $ 2.339 billion was received in 2015, $1.150 billion in 2016, $ 774.933 million in 2017, $22.016 obtained in 2018, $655.642 million received in 2019 while $5.639 million was received in 2020.

The minister said the funds were donated by the European Development Fund (EDF); United Nations Development Systems (UNDS); China through the Bilateral Agreement between the Government of Nigeria and the People’s Republic of China signed since1972.

Others are; Japan through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA); Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA); Department for International Development DFID; United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the German International Cooperation (GIZ).

He, however, disclosed that the ministry did not receive the funds from the donors but it was involved in the coordination of the projects between the donors and the beneficiaries which are mostly the states and others.

“The implication of this is that donors do not give us the funds for management, rather donors work with the sectoral stakeholders to fund the project directly after identifying the needs by the MDAs/States in line with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.

“For the purpose of clarification, the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning is responsible for coordinating Nigeria’s multilateral and bilateral economic cooperation,” he said.

Speaking, Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Kabiru Idris, said the Committee had received many petitions, alleging widespread misappropriation, misuse, and diversion of donors’ funds.

He said the petitions also alleged falsification of performance reports for the purpose of obtaining more funds from donor agencies/organisations.

“Also, in line with its mandate, the Committee received a referral from the House of Representatives, mandating it to investigate the operations of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) so as to ascertain their sources of funding, their bases of operations and locations.

“This was after it had deliberated on a motion titled “Need for Special Intervention in the Protracted Situation in the Country,” he said.

Source:- Daily Trust