It’s a grand name that has produced not-so-grand results. Zonal Intervention Projects (ZIP), another name for constituency projects of National Assembly members, will get N100bn, according to the latest budget proposal.
Money for ZIP is meant to be used for intervention projects in all constituencies across the country. Constituency projects are supposed to develop the constituencies, and include provision of water, rural electrification, rural clinics, schools, community centres and bursary for indigent students. The federal lawmakers usually nominate the contractors, and the projects are usually executed by the Federal Government.
‘‘It is on record that in the past 10 years N1tn has been appropriated for constituency projects, yet the impact of such huge spending on the lives and welfare of ordinary Nigerians can hardly be seen,” President Muhammadu Buhari observed at the National Summit on Diminishing Corruption in Public Sector in November 2019.
A damning report by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) said: “The level of implementation of constituency projects in 16 focus states for 2015 is revealing. Out of 436 constituency projects for the year that were tracked, 145 were completed, 77 ongoing while 211 were not executed at all.
“For 2016, out of a total of 852 constituency projects in 20 states in the 2016 Budget that were tracked, 350 were completed, 118 were ongoing, 41 locations not specified in the budget and 343 not done or performed.”
Also, according to the report, “In 2017, a total of 1,228 constituency projects in the budget were tracked for performance as at June 2018. Out of these, 478 were completed, 173 in an unspecified location, 200 ongoing, 13 abandoned and 364 not started. The level of performance of constituency projects is therefore disputable.”
Despite the findings, it is puzzling that the Federal Government has continued to provide funds for constituency projects. When constituents don’t benefit from constituency projects, who benefits? Ironically, the beneficiaries of constituency projects are usually not constituents, but corrupt federal legislators and their associates.
Observers say money for constituency projects is included in the budget to facilitate the passage of the budget. They say if there is no money for constituency projects in the budget, the lawmakers will not approve any other thing in the budget.
So the game of give and take continues. The people are shortchanged. The country remains underdeveloped. It is disturbing. Sadly, there is no sign that this yearly ritual is about to end.