The chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission(ICPC), Professor Bolaji Owasanoye has called on citizens of the country to show interest in the selection and execution of constituency projects in their domains.
ICPC boss declared that citizens must not see the projects from their lawmakers as gifts, noting that they are funded by the government.
Nigerian Tribune reports that Owasanoye stated this while declaring open a town meeting organised by the commission in collaboration with the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital at the weekend.
The event tagged, “My constituency, My Project” was attended by traditional rulers, politicians, professionals, market women, youths, civil societies and relevant stakeholders with the aim of sensitising the public on the need to monitor government projects in their communities.
Owasanoye said: “We wish to state with emphasis that constituency and other projects are funded by the government with public money. This means that the projects are not gifts or donations to your community by political representatives. They belong to you as fruits of national resources and government responsibility to the people.”
Represented by the ICPC zonal commissioner for Ekiti, Ondo and Osun states, Mr Samuel Odebanjo, he explained that the purpose of the event was to ensure the people at the grassroots are involved in the process of selecting, implementing and monitoring of constituency projects for the purpose of transparency and accountability.
“For this reason, you the beneficiaries, need to show more interest in the selection, execution and use of these projects, in other words, you need to take ownership of the projects for sustainability in the long term,” he said.
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He disclosed that the commission would continue to track down constituency projects instituted by members of the National Assembly across the nooks and crannies of the country, stressing that, “it is through these projects that government touches the lives of citizens.”
According to him, the commission has recovered equipment and materials meant for the benefit of people which were kept away and were not distributed, noting that more fund was recovered from those who inflated cost or failed to execute projects across the country.
Earlier, the Director General of NOA, Dr Garba Abari maintained that if citizens took ownership of constituency projects, there would be genuine interest to preserve and protect against vandals, adding that, “it will ensure that legislators and other officials of government are alerted when there is poor execution of these contracts and that they also are held accountable.”
Abari who spoke through the Deputy Director in charge of Planning, Research and Strategy, Mr Rotimi Omotosho noted that the collaboration between ICPC and NOA was aimed at bringing government closer to the people at the grassroots.
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