Constituency projects over bloated, poorly executed, says BudgIT

A civic technology organisation, BudgIT, on Wednesday said most of the constituency projects nominated by federal lawmakers in 2017 were over bloated and poorly executed.

It alleged that some lawmakers connived with contractors to inflate the price of projects they nominated last year.

BudgIT’s Principal Lead, Gabriel Okeowo, said this at the launch of Tracka’s 2017 report on constituency projects in 20 states.

Mr. Okeowo, in the report titled: Lessons and Findings from the focus states, accused lawmakers of shrouding some of their projects in secrecy.

He also said some of the empowerment projects nominated by lawmakers had little or no impact on the lives of their constituents in 2017.

He said: “Every year, we deploy our team of Project Tracking Officers across the federation to track the effectiveness and efficiency of the projects. 

To increase development across Nigeria, it is important to track projects in the budget; raise local champions who monitor such projects and demand accountability from representatives. This is how Tracka addresses critical socio-economic issues in Nigeria.

“The focus period of the report we are launching today is from May 2017 to June 2018. 24 Project Tracking Officers (PTOs), were in 617 communities across 374 Local Government Areas in the 20 focus states to sensitize residents on the 2017 budgetary provisions situated in their communities.

 Based on our findings, 1,228 projects were tracked; of these, 478 have been completed, 200 are ongoing, 364 have not started while 13 projects are abandoned.

“We observed an increased number of abandoned and non-executed projects. On several occasions, where projects were delivered, the project sums were inflated and some were executed with inferior products, resulting in endangerment of lives, developmental setbacks and further expenditure.

“This happens as contractors try to maximize profit by cutting costs, and they are emboldened to do so because often, there are no sanctions, despite complaints and consequences. While others projects were executed, they were put under lock and key awaiting commissioning while the community suffered.

“Other findings as you may see the report were over significant amount that went into empowerment projects which are difficult to track and their impact cumbersome to measure. Many projects were over bloated while execution was poorly executed. These realities led to a populace that does not feel the impact of government projects, though they read of them in the newspapers, hear about them on radio or see them all around their communities.

“As the 2019 elections beckon, we hope that this report can be a tool to assess performance, to question political office aspirants on projects and determine how citizens will engage politicians during the campaigns as well as at the polls.

“In the coming year, we will continue to deepen our work with the grassroot citizens, increase opportunities for civic education through our community champion initiative as well as empower Nigerians to take ownership of the project monitoring process in their communities.

“Our resolve is to continue to work towards a future where every Nigerians will be courageousto ask questions, demand results and hold our leaders accountable.  That way, both the followers and the leaders will walk closer to the Nigeria of our dreams.

Earlier, Program Manager for Tracka, Uadamen Ilevbaoje, said lawmakers completed 478 projects in one year.

Mr. Ilevbaoje, who presented the report, said the organisation tracked 1,228 projects in 2017 and discovered that 478 have been completed, 200 are ongoing, 364 have not started while 13 projects are abandoned.

He said the Tracka report shined light on the status of different projects across the focus states.

He said: “The focus period of the report we are launching today is from May 2017 to June 2018. 24 Project Tracking Officers (PTOs), were in 617 communities across 374 Local Government Areas in the 20 focus states to sensitize residents on the 2017 budgetary provisions situated in their communities. Based on our findings, 1,228 projects were tracked; of these, 478 have been completed, 200 are ongoing, 364 have not started while 13 projects are abandoned.

“Other findings as you may see the report were over significant amount that went into empowerment projects which are difficult to track and their impact cumbersome to measure. Many projects were over bloated while execution was poorly executed.

“These realities led to a populace that does not feel the impact of government projects, though they read of them in the newspapers, hear about them on radio or see them all around their communities.”

Tracka is a platform by BudgIT that uses active citizens who track and monitor government projects in their communities in order to ensure quality service delivery.