Senate moves to legalize constituency projects – TheNigerialawyer

*Seeks 2.5% of of national budget

The Senate has introduced a new bill that seeks to consign the
management of constituency projects initiated by federal
lawmakers.

The Bill, when passed, would deny Ministries, Departments and
Agencies of the Federal Government from having any input awarding
contracts for projects captured under the constituency fund.

The Bill seeks the setting up of a special fund made up of 2.5
per cent of yearly budget to be dedicated to constituency
projects.

The Bill also stipulated that the fund when set up would be
managed by the Rural Development Department of the Federal Ministry
of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Presently constituency projects of lawmakers are captured in the
capital allocation of relevant MDAs.

The MDAs also award the contracts and determine the execution of
the projects.

The practice had led to outcry by lawmakers who often complain
that funds for projects allocated against their names are never
released or suffer poor releases which often stall the
implementation of such projects.

Investigations by THE NATION, TheNigerialawyer show that the
N100billion allocated for constituency projects in the 2019 budget
have not been released by President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a bid to forestall the repeat of the development in future, a
former Leader of the Senate, Ali Ndume, has sponsored the
“Constituency Development Fund Bill, 2019”, which scaled first
reading on the floor of the red chamber, on Tuesday.

The bill, according to a copy, obtained by our reporter on
Friday, seeks to legalize the management and implementation of
constituency development funds in the country.

Against the current practice where MDAs are fully in charge, the
new legislation seeks to entrust the execution of such projects in
the hands of the Rural Development Department of the proposed
agency.

The decisions on the projects to be implemented, according to
the bill, would remain with the various constituencies through the
Constituency Development Project Advisory Committees set up for
each federal constituency and senatorial district.

Section 4.-(1) of the proposed legislation reads, “There is
established a Fund to be known as the Constituencies Development
Fund which shall:

(a) be a national Fund consisting of moneys of an amount of not
less than 2.5 % (two and half per centum) of all the Federal
Government ordinary budget in every financial year

(b) comprise of any moneys accruing to or received by the
Department from any other source;

(c) disbursed by the Federal Government to the Department for
even development and provision of rural infrastructure in the
manner provided by this Act;

(d) administered by the Department of Rural Development in the
Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development:

Provided that l. 5 % (one and half per centum) and 1 % (one per
centum) of the total revenue accruing to the Department under this
Act shall be allocated for developmental projects at all Federal
Constituencies and Senatorial Districts in the Federation
respectively.”