Nicholas Ogunde, Yenagoa
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) says in its drive to stop corruption in the projects executed by state governments, the commission has launched its Constituency Projects Tracking Group initiated in 2019.
ICPC commissioner in charge of Rivers and Bayelsa states, Mr Chukwurah Alexander, stated this during an interactive session with various stakeholders in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital.
He said the commission had commenced the first phase of tracking with 12 states to see whether constituency projects were executed and how satisfactory they had been carried out.
He equally said the commission in collaboration with the National Orientation Agency (NOA) had urged Bayelsa communities to get involved in the conception and execution of constituency projects by the national and state representatives towards bringing adequate development to the grassroots.
Alexander said the public enlightenment centred on constituency and government projects in the communities and the roles citizens had to play to make everyone benefit from the projects.
Alexander said: “This exercise, popularly known as CPTG, was a huge success with the communities in the pilot states on account of the fact that a lot of abandoned projects were completed or are now being completed because of the intervention by the ICPC.
“The exercise also led to the recovery of equipment and machinery meant for the benefit of ordinary people which were kept away and were not distributed. Many of such have been distributed to beneficiaries and have since been put to use.
“In the process as well, ICPC recovered money for government from those who did not execute the projects, underperformed or inflated the cost of projects.”
He stated that the second phase of tracking projects had been widened to include those projects which were specifically developed and implemented by the executive arm of government.
He called on community people to get involved in the selection, implementation and monitoring of the projects for the purpose of transparency and accountability.
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In his remarks during the stakeholders meeting, the Director-General, NOA, Dr. Garba Abari, represented by the Bayelsa State Director, Mrs. Maria Timitimi, said constituency projects give the representatives of the people at the State and National Assembly the required opportunity to identify infrastructural lapses in their domain for government’s intervention.
He said constituency projects covered several sub-heads such as the provision of books for local libraries, borehole projects, health facilities, donation of computers to schools, road construction, among other areas, that might interest a representative from a federal constituency.
She stated: “Our concern should be how this vehicle of development can be made to deliver the desired gains to the people.
This is the basis for the new partnership between NOA and the ICPC. It is our view that when communities take ownership of these projects, there will be genuine interest to preserve and protect them.
“It will also ensure that contractors, ever eager to maximize profits, execute the projects to the highest standards required. Community ownership will ensure that legislators and other officials of government are alerted when there is poor execution of these contracts.”
In his remarks, the representative of the state Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Albert Ivovo, hinted that before now, “We use to know or see projects on the budget and at the end, it is only seen on the paper that the budget has been implemented, money has been allocated and funds collected but you will not see any project.
“This has really generated a lot of troubles and crisis from the grassroots to the national level. The reason for the insincerity is part of what we are seeing today. If people own a thing, they will know that this project is our own. They will also protect and make sure that they secure the project.”
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