Worried by the number of uncompleted abandoned constituency projects all over d country,which stood at over a trillion naira, the leadership of the Independent Corrupt practises Commission(ICPC) and the National orientation Agency(NOA) have solicited d partnership and support of the mass media to educate the citizenry on the need for them to monitor execution of projects in their domain.
The leadership of the two bodies which met with senior media executives in Abuja during the week declared that ten years down the line,about 40% of constituency projects for which money were allocated in budgets for legislators constituencies,are yet to be completed and implemented.
Garba Abari, the Director General of NOA said the body and ICPC are of the conviction that for constituency projects to be of any effect they have to be identified as having be well sited and are of relevance to the communities.
Said he,”it has come to a time when the communities led by their community development associations, have to take ownership,guide and protect the projects situated in their areas and not regard them as projects of elected politicians sponsored from his pocket but rather projects for which budget was approved”.,
He contended that the sited projects in the national budget are to ensure equity and spread adding that this is the more reason why citizens are sensitized to appreciate the importance such that the location and implementation of such projects make real value for money.
In this regard, he said media is a key step to bring about the issues and engage the various communities on the need for them to claim ownership and ensure that are money meant for projects are spent on the projects for which they are budgeted by being whistle blowers on threat to projects in their communities.
In his remark,chairman of the ICPC,Professor Owasanoye said the country and the agency are not only in the eye of the storm but more in the centre of turbulence as citizens expect it to bring project defaulters to book.
As a result, he said constituency projects implementation will not be the same again as the body is encouraging people in whose projects are sited to ask questions and ensure the delivery process and ownership is for the people and not politicians.
He said the ICPC has gone round select areas of the country to monitor constituency projects but discovered that media has to do more to allow the people have an idea of what is going on in their com unity saying from it’s findings, “there is complete lack of information by the communities on their role in policing the projects in their domain and since ICPC is not set up to replace the police, it has to tackle systemic issues that can’t be solved by the police”.
Such issues which he identifies as having impact on successful implementation of projects are projects which border on education,infrastructure and empowerment.
The ICPC chairman said while the body is not interested in prosecuting contractors and legislators who abandon or divert constituency projects,its interventions have helped to get contractors back to site and complete projects for which they were paid rather than taking them to court which he said will delay the projects and increase sufferngsvof communities.
He charged community development associations to take interest in the completion and maintenance of completed projects.
However, in order to change the narrative of constituency allocation and implementation ,local governments should be institutionalised to set up machinery to sustain and maintain completed projects such that they don’t become abandoned due to lack of maintanance.
In conclusion,Owasanoye said it has become imperative to change the narrative of constituency project abandonment through removal of politics irrespective of whoever is in power in communities or state since the money for such are budgeted for by the government and not politicians personal funding. in monitoring constituency projects execution….details later
