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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nInstead, the nefarious activity has drained over N1 trillion\nfrom the federal treasury in the 10 years to 2019, attracting the anger of\nBuhari last year, who, at a forum, declared that it had not had any meaningful\nimpact on the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are cogent reasons to stop the fraud. First, there is\nthe important matter of the separation of powers that underpins the practice of\ndemocracy and the rule of law. This principle is accorded greater weight in the\npresidential system the country is practising. The framers of the United States\nConstitution, where the presidential system has found its utmost expression,\nadopted the doctrine that the three branches of government \u2014 executive,\nlegislative and judicial \u2014 should be strong with corresponding powers, with\neach acting as a powerful check on the other. Described as \u201cthe dominant\nprinciple of the American system,\u201d the executive is expected to run the\nadministration, enforce laws and defend the country against internal and\nexternal aggression. The legislature\u2019s primary function is to make and pass laws,\nwhile the judicial arm is to apply and interpret laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An essay in Article Library, an online resource, adds,\n\u201cLegislature enjoys a very special and important role in every democratic\nstate. It is the assembly of the elected representatives of the people and\nrepresents national public opinion and power of the people.\u201d A United Nations\nDevelopment Programme publication says the power of the parliament to oversee\nthe government in a democracy aims to ensure transparency, hold the executive\naccountable and uphold the rule of law. This does not translate into the\nlegislature usurping the exclusive right of the executive to execute projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Surveys by BudgIT, a non-profit, and ICPC uncovered fraud,\nabandoned projects, diversion of funds and materials under the constituency\nprojects. Of the 1,496 projects tracked by BudgIT between June 2018 and\nNovember 2019, 475 were found completed by December, 144 were ongoing and 536\nhad not even started, while 42 were abandoned. It detailed widespread deceit.\nThough funded by the government, lawmakers personalised the projects to win\npopularity and votes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreover, rampant fraud included the inflation of contracts,\naward of contracts to themselves through front companies and appropriation of\nmaterials by lawmakers for themselves and supporters. In 90 instances, neither\ntrackers nor the supposed beneficiary communities could locate the sites, while\nmoney was paid for projects abandoned midway or never executed. Only 33 per\ncent of the projects were completed in the 2015 cycle, while the ICPC\nquestioned the insertion in 2019 of N2.9 billion in the Foreign Affairs\nMinistry and N2.7 billion in the budget of the Ministry of Justice. This is\nbrazen looting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is ridiculous in a federation for the central government\nto engage in the provision of boreholes, community-viewing centres, sewing\nmachines and local markets. Bizarrely, the ICPC and BudgIT found the\nconstruction of pavilion, culverts and supply of hand pumps, perimeter fencing\nof schools and \u201cempowerment for youths and women\u201d in the approved budget\nestimates. These are activities fit only for local government councils. With 68\nitems on the Exclusive Legislative List in the constitution, the Federal\nGovernment has enough to occupy it. Little wonder that oversight is near absent.\n\u201cSecrecy in the preparation, enactment and implementation of budgets keeps\ncitizens in the dark regarding what their government owes them,\u201d said BudgIT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like many things, the constituency project is a\nmisapplication of the \u201cpork barrel\u201d legislation in the US where Congressmen\nlobby to attract mandatory federal spending in the budget to benefit their\ndistricts. Unlike here, however, tracking, oversight and reviews are\ninstitutionalised. Second, US lawmakers do not execute, oversee or brand them\nas if they were the financiers. The Bipartisan Control Act 2011 curbed it by\nplacing a moratorium, while the line-item veto allows the president and state\ngovernors to veto pork barrel items; 44 US states adopted the measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is time to end this stealing. Lawmakers\u2019 claim of serving\nthe rural communities is trite and deceitful. The National Assembly is a\nnational platform, not an LG; attracting projects and engaging state, local and\ndevelopment agencies are the global standards. Lawmakers exhibit ignorance when\nthey insert projects that have not gone through due process of conception,\ncompetitive bidding, architectural and engineering designs and site acquisition\nin the budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nigeria\u2019s civil society groups should collectively raise\ntheir voice against this legislative heist. The bid to legalise the power grab\nand reserve 20 per cent of the national budget for constituency projects should\nbe thrown out. The country can no longer afford this massive waste. The\nexecutive should push back, do a thorough homework and consider seeking\njudicial interpretation of the basic law over project execution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Besides, instead of complaining, the ICPC should move\nagainst the legislators that have abused their position and misapplied funds in\nthe name of executing the constituency projects. This is corruption and those\ninvolved should be diligently investigated and prosecuted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Punch Newspaper Editorial AMID a global health and economic crisis and severe threat to the national budget, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission recently re-tabled the vexed issue of constituency projects. Like…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[233,234,52],"class_list":["post-964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polity-politics-governance","tag-constituency-projects","tag-corrupt-practices","tag-fraud"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/towncryyers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Nigeriahouseofreps.jpg?fit=1024%2C549&ssl=1\")
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