President Mohammadu Buhari has lamented that Nigerians especially those at the grassroots have not felt the impact of about N1 trillion appropriated for Constituency Projects in the past ten years.
President Buhari made the lamentation in his keynote address at a two-day summit for the top level of government on “diminishing corruption in the public sector,” organized by the Independent Corrupt Practices and related offences Commission (ICPC) and the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation at the presidential villa, Abuja.
The overall objective of the summit was to promote accountability and transparency in the public sector for the attainment of the sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Buhari noted that though the sum of N1 trillion had been released for constituency projects to members of the National Assembly, there was nothing tangible to show for it. He noted that the data gathered from Nigerians in rural communities showed that they had not felt the impact of such projects.
The President also directed the ICPC to go after the contractors, who collected funds for such projects and their collaborators in government and also beam its searchlight on agencies of government that have not enrolled in the IPPIS. He expressed delight that the activities of the ICPC on the constituency projects has forced over 200 contractors to return to sites to complete the projects for which they have been paid.