Ebonyi State Government has denied reports published in some sections of the media, alluding that it spent a whooping N1.1 billion on wildlife conservation.

The State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr Jude Okpor, made this refusal in a Statement issued in Abakaliki.

There were social media publications alleging that the state government allocated N1.1bn to wildlife conservation in nine months, which was reportedly less than the amounts spent on health and water provisions in its 2024 budget.

Okpor clarified that the N1.1bn, was an amount allocated for a contingency item, coded under “margin for increase in cost and wildlife conservation” in the approved budget.

“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 follows”

“First, the amount N1.1bn recorded against wildlife conservation is an amount meant for a contingency item, which the approved budget has coded under margin for the increase and not wildlife conservation”

“Secondly, we wish to clarify that the approved budget has a different template from the Quarterly Budget Implementation Report template”

The Statement added, “It should also be clarified that projects and programmes recorded under contingency, are not initially envisaged but arise during budget implementation”

“We therefore urge the general public, particularly those who may refer to such a document as advanced by the publication to be guided”

“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.