Churches and mosques as constituency projects

It is appalling that at a time when enlightened nations are pushing back against natural disruptions, structural vulnerabilities, cost of living crisis, terrorism, hunger, and diseases with economic statecraft and right policies, Nigeria is dwelling on excessive borrowing to fund wrong priorities. Unfortunately, this aberration is incubated by the legislature which is supposed to be the bastion of popular will.  Most states legislature and the National Assembly are immersed in the abuse of appropriation powers to orchestrate and deepen waste, sleaze, and bazaar of misaligned procurements.

Earlier in the year, the nation was served with nauseating news from Rivers State House of Assembly which was having a running battle with the governor, Mr. Siminalayi Fubara. The sole administrator of the state during the emergency rule, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (rtd) had, towards the end of the 6-month rule in September 2025, strangely advanced approximately N10.5 billion (about N350 million each) to the 30 lawmakers as part of ‘promised’ constituency projects. The lid was however blown open when the filtered news that the unending scuffle between the lawmakers and the governor was hinged on failure to pay up the outstanding tranche of N540miilion to make it N1 billion to each legislator.  More concerning was that four months after the first tranche had been remitted, there were no signs of execution at the listed projects sites. The Guardian Newspaper of January 22, 2026 reported that “several of the companies allegedly nominated by the lawmakers to handle the projects are either inactive, dormant or suspected to be individual entities.”  Nonetheless, now that the state is enjoying peace of the graveyard (apologies to Odumegwu Ojukwu’s Because I am Involved), the final tranche must have been fully paid. It does not matter if any execution has been carried out shabbily or satisfactorily.

But the elephant in the room is official corruption in high places. Both the BPP and EFCC (agencies of federal government) have said that over 90% of corruption perpetrated in Nigeria is through procurement. That is why our lawmakers struggle to smuggle in all manner of constituency projects in the budget.  In the current 2026 Budget, Nigeria’s National Assembly went bizarre. The two chambers reportedly inserted church-related projects to the tune of N1.91 billion and N6.14 billion for 52 mosques across the country.  Besides, about N22.15 billion was set aside for renovation and furnishing of palaces for traditional rulers nationwide. The public opprobrium against such insertions was so intense that the star boy of the 10th National Assembly, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu could not convincingly defend the appropriation of N780 million for musical equipment for churches in his Bende federal constituency, even after stating that the real figure was not N1billion.

If not for Tracka, not many would have known these details. Nigerians would have moved on with cynicism, complaints without action, and indulgent resignation to fate. Do you blame Nigerians? The budget document is usually bulky.  Don’t you remember that it was said that if you want to hide anything from Africans, put it down in a book? Who has the luxury of time and attention span to scrutinize money that will be spent by other people?  The lawmakers also know that most Nigerians don’t bother to search for and engage the elected representatives on the contents of the appropriation Act. After all, the last National Assembly unknowingly disenfranchised themselves in the new electoral law they made because of inexcusable lousiness of not dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. But some CSOs like Tracka and BudgIT that try to do it are sometimes vilified by the state-controlled media, politician-apologists, and contractors-bourgeoise in Abuja.

Over the years, the nation’s appropriation Acts have left much to be desired. There are controversies of budget padding, recycling of executed projects, and insertion of projects with ambiguity in order to conceal them from public view. Constituency projects have largely become a cesspool of corruption. The opacity in the inclusion and execution of projects is mind-boggling and can make the devil cry. The in-thing is that projects are moved to MDAs that have no professional, technical, and mandate purview on them. For instance, projects like road construction have no business appearing in the budget of agencies that have nothing to do with civil works.  But these insertions are made in collusion with heads of the agencies to escape the statutory oversight and basic procurement rigour. Ultimately, the lawmakers recommend the contractors who buy off the projects outrightly or, execute and make returns. This is an open secret. Thus, in the book, Fighting Corruption is Dangerous, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance had noted that the National Assembly was a huge drawback to anti-corruption stance of the federal government. It is even worse today.

On another level, the lawmakers embark on quick-fixes and hand-outs as constituency projects. They attract solar-powered street lights and other basic amenities. And either through budgetary provisions or money made from executed contracts, they purchase vehicles, motorcycles, tricycles, refrigerators, sewing machines, and grinding machines as empowerment items to their constituents. In fairness, some of these gestures are responses to endless requests and expectations from the constituencies. This is the demand side that fuels the desperation to insert projects in the budget at all costs. Thus, the lawmakers must tangibly show that they care for the electorate, and in turn, maximize such humanitarian gestures for electoral gains.

While these pro-people interventions have helped to lift some people out of poverty, the amount of money expended in the political largesse could have more sustainable impact if they are strategic investments in critical enablers of the economy – not the usual tokenism of political patronage. Unfortunately, the political class can hardly operate with frugality mindset despite the fact that the nation is on a life-support of borrowing. Let constituency projects be streamlined around targeted priorities captured in the national vision. They should not be mere self-promotional give aways. The rising sovereign debt is an ominous dark cloud hovering over the future of Nigeria. And we cannot be living large on borrowed funds.