National Assembly Blames Constituency Projects on Executive Failure

The National Assembly Monday blamed the  practice of legislators angling to  include constituency projects in the national budget on the failure of the executive arm of government to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people of Nigeria. The federal parliament admitted that the concept of legislators having  constituency projects  was an anomaly in a democracy, given the fact that  the legislature had lawmaking as its core constitutional responsibility while it was the business of the executive to implement  these laws and ensure  the  provision of basic social infrastructure to the people. The Chairman, Senate Committee on Media, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who  gave the explanation  at a capacity building workshop  organised by the  Policy and Legal  Advocacy Centre (PLAC) for parliamentary reporters, said the phenomenon of  constituency projects was meant to fill the gap left by the executive, especially  in the  development of infrastructure in  the country. He said the lack of basic social amenities in almost every constituency in Nigeria and the high expectations of the people on their representatives in parliament had put legislators under intense pressure to do something or risk losing their mandates at the next elections. Abaribe said contrary to public perception, members of the National  Assembly do not participate in the award of contracts and execution of  constituency projects. According to him, the legislators were only given the  privilege of nominating projects and where they could be located in their constituencies while the execution of these projects remained the business of  the executive arm of government. He however said in spite of the efforts National Assembly most of the  constituency projects are abandoned at the end of the day. Abaribe said that  the  high rate of abandonment  of constituency projects had become a source  of   concern to the parliament. The National Assembly, he said,  may institute a probe into the ownership of  firms that execute constituency projects  across the country to ascertain if indeed some lawmakers were behind them as believed in some quarters. Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Hon. Zakary  Mohammed, who  was also at the workshop, said envelop system of  budgetting  adopted by the federal government has not helped the development of the country as funds in the envelop were never enough  to provide  the things needed by the people. Mohammed,  who described the 2012 budget as "a failure" noted that most of the  capital projects in annual  budgets ended  up as failed or abandoned projects because there were no follow up funding in subsequent budgets. In a presentation, Executive Director, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC),  Mr. Clement Nwankwo  criticised  the federal government on its latest  position  on the  2013 budget, particularly some of the clauses meant to ensure  transparency. Nwankwo  argued that  President Goodluck Jonathan ought not to had sought the review of  the  clause in the 2013 budget which  prescribed  that the  Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) should  send  to the National  Assembly quarterly reports on their  revenue generation and expenditure. In his letter, Jonathan argued  that the clause would breach the principle of  separation of powers, but  Nwankwo said the  clause  would promote transparency and accountability and should be left in the budget. This Day