Nigeria’s civic tech organization, BudgIT has disclosed that of the 3265 constituency projects tracked between January 2020 & June 2021, only 1308 have been completed. It added that 427 are ongoing, 643 have not started, 133 have been abandoned and 774 have unspecified locations.
This was disclosed through its project tracking arm, TrackaNG on Wednesday morning, via its constituency project tracing report.
It also cited issues with running projects, including the use of substandard materials, poor maintenance and others.
What BudgIT is saying about the projects
It said 3265 projects were tracked between January 2020 & June 2021, 1308 have been completed.
BudgIT stated that “Issues with executing some of these projects, solutions include Overestimated project, Non-execution of projects, The obscurity of budgetary provisions, The use of substandard materials Poor maintenance of projects, and lack of an effective monitoring and evaluation body, among others.
It revealed that in some states including Oyo, Abia and Bauchi, empowerment projects are being used as avenues for political parties to strengthen their political base from government coffers rather than improve citizens’ lives.
“There is also a scourge of elected officials labelling items purchased with tax-payers’ money as “Donated”, thereby creating an impression that the projects were executed with personal funds.
“We see this as a malicious attempt by the officials to deliberately misinform the people for selfish political interests,” it warned.
It urged elected officials, executing bodies, and stakeholders who have a crucial role in nation-building to ensure that resources are effectively allocated and channelled towards improving service delivery in Nigeria.
In case you missed it
Recall Nairametrics reported last year that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) announced the commencement of the tracking of Constituency and Executive Projects for the year.
They warned that some cases of diversion of project funds from the first two phases were being investigated, as the third phase of the constituency and executive projects tracking exercise was slated to take place in 17 states – Katsina, Kano, Sokoto, Yobe, Adamawa, Plateau and Kogi.
Others are Benue, Ondo, Osun, Lagos, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Edo, Anambra and Imo States, as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.