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Objectives of constituency projects defeated – ICPC
The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, has lamented that the N100 billion annual allocation for constituency projects not achieved the Federal Government’s objective in the country and the objectives defeated.
Owasanoye, who stated this at a special town hall meeting on the fight against corruption organized by the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture in Abuja, regretted that the government’s lofty initiative had not made any significant impact in the communities in terms of infrastructural development.
He said: “If we genuinely spend N2 trillion on infrastructural development over a period of 10 years, it will diminish the tension and the escalation of discontent.”
He said the principal focus of the first phase of the tracking programme started some months ago and the target was on health and education sectors, adding that the tracking committee comprised of representatives from Budget Office, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Bureau of Public Procurement and Office of the Auditor-General.
Read also: Stop whipping up sentiments, ICPC responds to Obono-Obla’s letter
The ICPC chief also described the outcome of the first phase as revealing and interesting, adding that the Commission recovered funds for non-executed or uncompleted constituency projects.
Owanasoye added: “At least 200 contractors returned to site even before we got to them with some sponsors of the projects going back to complete them.
“In some cases, when the empowerment items were locked up somewhere because somebody wanted to trade them off, we gave them one week to distribute such items to the beneficiaries.
“For me, it makes more sense rather than arresting a senator and locking him up without delivering the items or facilities to the intended beneficiaries.
“With this approach, we may not see the sponsors in jail but the idea is that the communities will be happy and we will be happy also.”
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