Ebonyi State government has dismissed claims that it spent N1.1 billion in nine months on wildlife conservation.

Dismissing the claims in a statement issued on Tuesday, Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Jude Okpor, said the government frowned at the reports which he said was short of investigative journalism.

Okpor noted that the N1.1 billion was the amount meant for contingency items.

“The publication is to say the least, not well researched and devoid of any iota of truth. The writer obviously failed to carry out adequate investigations necessary to authenticate his report.

“Without bearing any grudge or prejudice against the author of the publication, but in full understanding of his ignorance, we wish to clarify as follow:

“First, the amount N1.1b recorded against wildlife conservation is an amount meant for contingency item which the approved budget has it coded under MARGIN FOR INCREASE IN COST and not WILDLIFE CONSERVATION.

“If the author has seen it otherwise, it could probably have been a misplacement or typographic error, which the author who rightly asserted that there is no zoo in Ebonyi, should have resorted to rightful authorities for clarification in line with the ethics of journalism.

“Secondly, we wish to clarify that the Approved Budget has a different template from the Quarterly Budget Implementation Report template, and at the point of population of the Quarterly report, which the said publication particularly referred to, the economic code was erroneously imputed. In the Approved Budget which the state government spends from, the said amount is under the Contingency Fund.

“It should be clarified also that projects and programmes recorded under Contingency are projects/programmes not envisaged but which came up during budget implementation.

” There’s no actual record in the state where such an amount as reported by the media outlet was spent on WILDLIFE CONSERVATION. That is an error in transmission.

“We therefore wish to urge the general public, particularly those that may have the need to refer to such a document as advanced by the publication to be guided as we assure that the error will be corrected to reflect the correct economic description when the state produces her Quarter 4 Budget Implementation, which would be made public in January 2025.

“We are ready and well disposed to making a copy of an extract from the state’s Approved Budget available to any interested member of the public for reference purposes.

“Finally, it is important we use this medium to assure the people of Ebonyi State that the present administration led by His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru has remained faithful to its vow of accountability and prudence in the management of the state’s resources.

“The avalanche of developmental projects scattered across the state, covering all the sectors, and the unprecedented level of human capital development and economic empowerment of citizens of the state on regular basis bear eloquent testimonies to this administration’s commitment towards ensuring that the people’s money work for them.

“It is also worthy of note that the implementation of our budget since the inception of this administration has been adjudged worthy by an internationally acclaimed budget tracking organization (BUDGIT), ranking us highly – 5th position on fiscal transparency league table across the Nation,” the statement issued by the commissioner read.