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Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
In recent time, members of the National Assembly have been on warpath with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over the utilisation of the Zonal Intervention Fund (ZIP), popularly known as constituency projects fund.
The ZIP is an intervention fund designated for the execution of projects across the 469 constituencies across the country in every budget cycle. A sum of N100 billion is usually appropriated for the ZIP in the annual budget.
Members of the two chambers of the National Assembly are expected to nominate projects to be sited in their constituencies to the tune of the sum allocated to them in the ZIP.
However, recently the utilisation of the ZIP has pitched the parliament against the ICPC, after President Muhammadu Buhari, while speaking at a National Summit on “Diminishing Corruption in the Public Service” , an event organised by the ICPC in collaboration with the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), said one trillion Naira has been spent by the lawmakers on constituency projects in the last 10 years without commensurate results.
President Buhari, who spoke based on a report by the anti-graft agency had stated that “it is on record that in the past 10 years, N1 trillion 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.
“The first phase report of tracking these projects by ICPC confirms our worst fears that people at the grassroots have not benefited in terms of commensurate huge sums appropriated for constituency projects since inception.”
Speaking at the same event, the ICPC chairman, Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, said a tracking of constituency projects for 2015 -2018 revealed a lot of anomalies. He noted that the tracking exercise revealed that 50 per cent of the budgetary allocations for constituency projects go to opaque projects.
He said, “By this initiative, we have tracked and seen to completion in the pilot phase 255 projects out of 424 projects in 12 states spread across the six geo-political zones.
“The total appropriation for the selected projects was N24.32 billion, out of which N22.27 billion was awarded in contracts. By monitoring the projects and enforcing completion, we saved government about N2 billion in recovery of diverted assets, such as equipment for schools, hospitals, farms, water or energy projects, marginal improvement from use or supply of substandard materials, recovery of money from over valuation, identification of vulnerabilities and preventive measure for future projects.”
Since then, there have been no love lost between the National Assembly, particularly the House of Representatives, which has taken on the ICPC , head on over the matter, and the anti-graft agency.
Reps fight back
In the aftermath of President Buhari’s public comment on the constituency projects, the House of Representatives had carpeted the ICPC for misleading the President. For the lawmakers, the action of the anti-graft agency was akin to giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it.
The minority leader, Ndudi Elumelu, in a motion brought before the House under matters of privilege, said though one trillion Naira was appropriated for constituency projects in the last 10 years, actually, releases for the projects were about 30 percent.
Elumelu stated that though he agrees with President Buhari that there have not been commensurate result for the amount budgeted for the ZIP, the fault does not lie with the lawmakers.
He said, “the ICPC that wrote this report failed to tell the truth of how much was actually released. When you say N1 trillion is budgeted like the President said, if that money was released completely, there will be value commensurate to the money. I wonder why the ICPC man failed to look at what was released.
“Why should ours be a subject of debate that they will tell Nigerians we received N1 trillion when that was budgeted, but not released. My message is that we should let them know that while N1 trillion was budgeted for constituency projects, by way of releases, we did not receive that because what was released was less that 40 percent.’
The minority leader added: “Section four of the 1999 constitution as amended says we should make budgets and if we pass budget in this House, the onus is now on the executive to implement and award contract. We don’t award contracts. I don’t know of any member who is a member of the tenders board. In effect, the National Assembly has nothing to do with the execution of any contract. It is painful that the agency that generated that information failed to state that while it is true that N1 trillion was budgeted in the last 10 years, this money has not been released.”
In the last two weeks, the House has adopted two resolutions on issues relating to the ZIP. In a move akin to taking the battle to executive arm of government, the House, a fortnight ago, adopted a motion sponsored by the speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila and five others on the “need for refund of unspent budget funds,” and resolved to set up a 16-man Ad-hoc Committee to probe Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) over unspent constituency projects funds in the last ten years.
The Ad-hoc Committee is expected to identify MDAs that failed to remit unspent constituency projects to the treasury in the last 10 years and report back to the House within eight weeks for further legislative actions.
The chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business, Abubakar Fulata who led the debate on the motion on behalf of Gbajabiamila, said in the last 10 years, there is no instance where the budget was funded 100 per cent.
He said it is imperative for the House to probe non-remittance of unspent ZIP funds by MDAs, noting, “I was shocked when I heard that one trillion has been spent in constituency projects.”
Fulata, who stated releases for capital projects in the past 10 years has hovered between 40 to 70 per cent, added that most of the times the funds released for constituency projects are not fully utilised by the MDAs.
He further noted that “releases of constituency and other project funds are based on total sum provided in the annual national budget. Aware that most constituency projects, like other capital projects are awarded at an amount lesser than the budget provisions by government MDAs.
“Also aware that unspent funds of MDAs are returned or rather automatically mopped up by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the end of each financial year.
“Further aware that excess funds accruing from the under-valued awards of constituency projects are not returned to the treasury. Concerned that those funds are misapplied to other expenditure items contrary to extant public financial management laws and regulations. “
Also, last week, the Green chamber summoned the ICPC boss to appear before its Ethics and Privileges Committee to substantiate claims that lawmakers misappropriate constituency projects funds.
Owasanoye had reportedly accused members of the National Assembly of stealing funds meant for constituency projects.
However, the House said the ICPC must substantiate its claims or face legal action for allegedly breaching the collective privilege of members of the federal legislature.
The chairman, House Committee on Human Rights, Honourable John Dygeh, had in matter of privilege, noted that the December 16 edition of a national newspaper, quoted the ICPC boss as accusing members of the National Assembly of stealing billions of Naira meant for constituency projects.
For the lawmakers, the anti-graft agency has more or less “twisted” the facts so as to tilt the narrative against the parliament.
The chairman, House Committee on Media and Publicity, Benjamin Kalu, told journalists in Abuja that the ICPC failed to lay the entire facts bare before the public.
According to him, “the ICPC visited a little over 490 projects out of which they told us that about 380 were not actually separate projects. They also told us that the projects were spread across 423 locations.
“Out of this 423, they were able to visit 373. They confirmed that 255 were healthy. They also confirmed that 108 projects were ongoing. They are ongoing maybe because the money that was released for them in the first year was 30 percent and were rolled over to the following year.
“They found out in their report that only five projects were abandoned and only three projects never started. These are contained in the report. They recommend only eight lawmakers for prosecution. These are contained in the report.
“But the news out there is that N1 trillion has been wasted and nothing to show for it and that N100 billion has been recovered from the National Assembly. So, you can imagine how the public will feel. They didn’t even know that you visited 37 projects and 108 were ongoing and 255 have been completed and handed over.
“If they know that, Nigerians will not raise so much dust because that constitutes 85 percent of the entire projects. They did not recover over N100 billion as announced everywhere. They recovered N660 million in property and cash.”
However, the current controversy over the actual expenditure on the constituency projects has generated fresh debate on the propriety or otherwise of the concept.
While a school of thought sees it allegedly as a cesspool of corruption, which must not be allowed to continue, another school of thought, which includes lawmakers argue that the ZIP is the only way to get developmental projects to the grassroots.
The ZIP is a crucial point in the relationship between the executive and legislative, as it has proved to be an effective tool for lobbying the latter by the former. Consequently, anything that touches on the issue is bound to generate interest both within and outside the government.
The chairman House Committee on Treaties and Protocol, Ossai Nicholas Ossai told our correspondent that the ZIP has impacted meaningfully on the various constituencies, especially those within the rural areas.
Ossai opines that it is wrong for the anti-graft agency to put lawmakers on the spot over the execution of constituency projects. He said, the proper thing is for the government to turn searchlight on civil servants, especially those who are supposed to monitor the execution of the projects.
Apparently, in a bid to effectively prove its case in the court of public opinion, the House is planning its own investigation on the execution of the constituency projects, viz-a-viz the funds released for them.
