N1trn constituency project: Reps accuse ICPC of misleading Buhari

The House of Representatives has accused the Independent Corrupt
Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) of providing
misleading statistics, upon which President Muhammadu Buhari relied
on to say about N1 trillion was expended on National Assembly
members’ constituency projects in 10 years.

Recall that President Buhari had on Tuesday, at an event
organised by office of the Secretary to the Government of the
Federation in conjunction with the ICPC, declared that about N1
trillion was wasted during that period on National Assembly members
in the form of constituency projects.

He said that data collected from Nigerians in rural communities
pointed to the fact that they had not felt the impact of the said
projects, as there was no commensurate result with the funds
spent.

But at Wednesday’s plenary of the House, the Minority Leader,
Hon. Ndudi Elumelu (PDP, Delta) raised a point of order, in which
he argued that the said figures were incorrect, and breached his
privileges as a member of the National Assembly.

He submitted that the budgeted figures in annual budgets do not
equate to actual release of funds.

“Last year, there was release of about only 40 percent, and we
are not sure if releases will be up to 50 percent this year,” he
noted.

Supporting the motion, the Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Toby
Okechukwu (PDP, Enugu) argued that the biggest problem with such
projects was poor release of funds for their execution, adding that
those who informed the president failed to take such into
consideration.