Tracka, a transparency platform owned by BudgIT, that allows citizens
to collaborate, track and give feedback on public projects in their
communities, has observed that a higher percentage of the ₦100 billion
allocated for zonal intervention projects in 2020 approved budget were
allocated for empowerment projects in lieu of infrastructural projects.
Considering the challenge of service delivery in the country, Tracka
ensures that allocated public funds for projects nominated by members of
the National Assembly, are effectively disbursed for the good of the
people in local communities.
Lack of transparency and citizen inclusion in the nomination of the
capital projects has led to an increasing number of abandoned projects
in various communities across Nigeria, and despite the huge funds
allocated for capital expenditure over the years, some projects are
either left uncompleted, mismanaged or worse still, abandoned.
Tracka’s analysis also reveals that over 50% of nominated projects in
the last five years were “empowerment programmes.” These programmes
include the disbursement of items like sewing machines, bicycles,
tricycles, grinding machines amidst other things to constituency
members.
“While we advocate for genuine citizen empowerment, the current mode of
disbursement is, to say the least, questionable,” says Ilevbaoje
Uadamen, Head of Tracka. “In 2019 and 2020 alone, a total of N58 billion
and N63 billion were allocated respectively for empowerment provisions.
How do politicians come to determine the empowerment needs of their
constituents without needs assessment nor inclusion in the
decision-making process and how are the beneficiaries decided?” he
queried further.
According to recent reports, the government has in the past 11 years
allocated a minimum of N1.1 trillion for constituency projects (note
that funds have not been released for 2020 constituency projects as at
the time of this press release), however, the budget breakdown result
misaligns with the huge sum of money released to the respective MDAs for
project execution.
In addition to the aforementioned irregularities, we also observed that
projects worth a total sum of ₦2.1 billion have unspecified locations.
Failure to provide these locations is antithetical to democracy,
depriving communities, CSOs and auditing bodies of information. This
anomaly provides an avenue for siphoning public funds meant for project
implementation and also impedes opportunities to monitor and ensure
proper implementation of the public officials’ obligations to the
people.
In the 2020 budget, Tracka discovered over 988 projects that were
budgeted under agencies that do not have the mandate to execute the
projects. We observed that a total sum of ₦71.5m was budgeted for the
supply of 30 tricycles, 20 carted motorcycles and 80 Motorcycles in
Eket/Esit Eket/ Ibeno/Onna, Akwa Ibom State under the Ministry of
Science and Technology and awarded to the National Centre for Hydropower
Research and Development. Projects like this make us raise eyebrows as
the ministry in question does not have the competence to execute
empowerment projects.
Tracka calls on Nigerian citizens to effectively engage their elected
representatives to carry out a needs assessment to ensure their needs
are adequately represented in the budget. Nigerians should also track
projects until completion and always demand accountability of allocated
funds. We equally call on members of the National Assembly to also
ensure that capital projects are being made a priority for the citizens.