Fed Govt releases N63bn to NASS for empowerment programmes, BudgIT kicks
The Federal Government has released N63 billion to the National Assembly to implement empowerment programmes for their constituents.
The lawmakers have fully accessed the monies despite the outbreak of Covid-19 which led to the government declaring a lockdown.
Source: Original
The Project and Program Manager for Tracka, Mercy Danjuma kicked against the decision of the government to release such huge amount of money to the lawmakers during a major pandemic.
She expressed displeasure with the high level of misplaced priority regarding projects proposed by elected representatives and lack of citizen inclusion in the project proposition process by legislators.
Mercy noted that these projects have also been used as a funnel to transfer political benefits to party loyalists.
She said this is because some of these empowerment programmes are difficult to track, hence the reason why the lawmakers allocate huge resources to empowerment schemes.
According to her, whenever details of public projects are unavailable to the public, monitoring the implementation of such projects becomes difficult for the citizens, and that this creates a loophole for under-delivery and embezzlement of public funds.
She said: “Our investigations revealed that National Assembly members collected N63 billion in full for empowerment programs in their constituencies in 2020, despite the COVID-19 lockdown for most of that year. While N59.6 billion was budgeted to provide empowerment in the 2021 budget, N63 billion was allocated for the same purpose in 2020.
“Despite the outbreak of COVID-19, federal lawmakers accessed 100 per cent of the funds in 2020, and so far, 75 per cent of the 2021 funds have been accessed.
“Likewise, the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation had an allocation of N13bn, however a good number of projects under this office were empowerment projects that may not meet the people’s needs.”
She added: “We observed, residents have minimal knowledge about the budget process and project implementation, especially regarding those projects that directly impact development in their areas.”
The project and program manager for Tracka, also condemned agencies who get projects they have no business executing.
She said the the Public Complaint Commission got N100 million for procuring a unit of CAT D7H wheel bulldozer caterpillar equipment for rural rehabilitation in Ondo Central Senatorial District, Ondo State, noting that an agency saddled with the responsibility of addressing public complaints from citizens had no business implementing projects outside its purview.
She said: “In Kano State, the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies(NBAIS) Headquarters was mandated to supervise a N52m project for the supply of rice in Tsanyawa and Kunchi Federal Constituency, Kano State. An educational institution should not be saddled with the responsibility of supplying grains.
“Projects should be assigned to appropriate ministries and agencies that have the mandate of overseeing them. The incapability of many agencies to effectively supervise projects has led to the poor execution of many projects, thereby wasting taxpayers funds.”
She called on the federal government and lawmakers to carry citizens along and ensure quality implementation of the projects they proposed so that citizens can derive maximum benefits from public funds.
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Source: Legit.ng
