Opposition to Senate’s Constituency Projects Bill Mounts – TheNigerialawyer

* ACF, Afenifere, IYC want legislators to drop 20% of federal
budget allotment proposal

The Senate has come under fire over its consideration of a bill
to reserve 20 per cent of the federal government’s budget to fund
constituency projects.

The bill, being sponsored by Senator Stella Oduah, from Anambra
State, at the weekend drew flaks from notable soclo-cultural groups
such as Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Afenifere and Ijaw Youth
Congress (IYC).

The groups, in separate interviews with THISDAY, condemned the
efforts and urged the senators to hands off the scheme, which
President Muhammadu Buhari recently said the nation wasted about N1
trillion on without getting any commensurate benefits.

The Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, described the
constituency projects being executed by federal government on
behalf of National Assembly members as a drain on the nation’s
economy.

Reacting to the proposal to allocate 20 per cent of annual
budget for constituency projects, Afenifere’s spokesman, Mr. Yinka
Odumakin, kicked against the plan, saying, “the so-called
constituency projects have been drain pipes in service of our
prebendal politics”.

According to him, “To now allocate 20 per cent of our budget to
such squandering is total liquidation of the country as it seems
everybody is grabbing what is ‘grabable’ in the last days of
Nigeria as it is.

“There have been no real values for such projects as they are
mostly self-serving projects. Some senators will collect billions
of naira to ‘train fishermen” for instance. How do you audit those
who were trained?

“Even those who engage in tangible projects do boreholes year-in
and year-out, shanty schools and never-equipped hospitals.”

On its part, ACF said Nigerians did not feel the impact of the
N1trillion budgeted for constituency projects in the last 10 years,
and urged the legislators to limit themselves to their assigned
roles of legislation and oversight functions instead of delving
into executive functions of executing constituency projects.

Secretary General of the ACF, Mr. Anthony Sani, told THISDAY at
the weekend that even Buhari recently said there was little to show
from the N1 trillion spent in 10 years.
He said the reports of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other
Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on constituency projects in some
geopolitical zones had shown that despite the funds allocated to
constituency projects, many of them were abandoned.

Sani added that to avoid past mistakes and make constituency
projects relevant to the people, any amount allocated for
constituency projects should be managed by the appropriated
agencies instead of by the individual legislators representing the
constituencies.

He said: “I believe the idea of constituency projects is
informed by scarcity of resources at the disposal of the federal
government. As a result, the constituency projects are aimed at
ensuring equitable distribution of national resources among the
constituent parts of the country.
“Therefore, there can be no cavil with the significance of the
constituency projects, especially if they are well executed for the
good of the public.

“And so in order to avoid past mistakes and make constituency
projects relevant to the people, any amount allocated for
constituency projects should be managed by the appropriated
agencies instead of by the individual legislators representing the
said constituencies.”

According to him, the legislators should limit themselves to
their assigned roles of legislation and oversight functions instead
of delving into executive functions of executing constituency
projects.
Also speaking on the issue, the President of Ijaw Youth Congress
(IYC), Mr. Eric Omare, accused the lawmakers of abusing the
implementation of constituency projects.

“We have had situations where some legislators have converted
constituency projects to their personal use and in some cases, some
do not execute the projects at all,” he said, adding: “In my view,
moving forward, mechanisms for implementation of constituency
projects should be strengthened by the government at all levels to
ensure implementation of constituency projects.”

A former Personal Assistant to former Vice President Atiku
Abubakar, and governorship aspirant in Adamawa State, Dr. Umar
Ardo, said constitutional projects were unconstitutional, adding
that the legislature should focus on law making.

He said: “The constitution of Nigeria created the legislature
and vested upon it two major functions only – to make laws and
perform oversights on the executive branch. None of these two
functions involved constituency projects! Performance of projects
is 100 per cent the function of the executive. It is therefore a
legislative fraud.

“I think someone needs to go to court and challenge this
misnomer. As it is now eating deep into the national purse without
commensurate impact, and being a milking cow for legislators at the
expense of the country, its legality needs to be established.”

Culled from Thisday