Lists five flaws in current implementation process by legislators
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
Agora Policy, a Nigerian think-tank focused on evidence-based policy research, advocacy, and reform, has faulted the current constituency projects’ execution model by members of the National Assembly, stressing the need to sanitise the system and establish a sustainable framework for the future.
In its latest policy memo, the WaziriAdio-led organisation listed five major flaws in the conception and execution of these additional projects, describing the first flaw as procedural. The paper tagged: “Sanitising the Operations of Nigeria’s Federally-Funded Constituency Projects” was written by Samuel Ajayi, AyobamiAyorinde and OluchiNkeonye.
Over time, Agora Policy noted that legislators have made a habit of including in approved budgets some items not in the appropriation bills submitted by the executive.
According to the organisation, a key flaw is the resultant abuse in terms of opacity and corruption, noting that legislators have now come to regard constituency projects as their annual entitlements that they can allocate to whatever projects they want and at whatever costs they decide, with no questions asked.
Besides, the paper faulted the deployment of federal resources into projects that should fall within the purview of subnational governments, with legislators having now developed a penchant for micro projects such as streetlights and boreholes that should be the responsibility of local authorities.
In the same vein, it highlighted the distortion and the misalignment that constituency projects introduce into the budget, pointing to the recent revelation by BudgIT that 1,142 projects worth N320.74 billion were included by the National Assembly in the approved budget of Federal Cooperative College, Oji River, Enugu State alone.
It also criticised the approach to constituency projects potentially, arguing that it weakens the effectiveness of the legislative arm of government and opens up an avenue for patronage politics and for compromising the lawmakers.
Based on the gravity of these and other flaws in the current conception and execution of constituency projects in Nigeria, it suggested that an apparent option will be to call for their scrapping, but admitted that that would be a difficult task.
According to Agora Policy, this then leaves the option of sanitising the process for initiating and delivering federally-funded constituency projects, although there will be a lot of push back from those benefiting from the system.
It therefore emphasised that ‘the refinement option’ is more practical and stands a higher chance of success than the abolition one, adding that for this to work, the executive arm needs to take the lead and must re-assert, in a politically deft manner its authority to initiate, design and implement budgets.
“It will be necessary for the executive to develop a policy framework for implementing constituency projects. This framework should specify the upper limit of constituency projects in each budget, the modality for distribution, what federal funds can be used for, and the deadline and the channel for legislators to make inputs into budget proposals by the executive before it is sent to the National Assembly.
“The framework should also have unambiguous provisions on conflict of interests in the procurement of contractors for these projects. Having such a framework will bring clarity and transparency and limit some of the abuses in the present arrangement.
“It will restore the authority of the executive to initiate, design and implement budgets. Legislators can make inputs/submissions on potential constituency projects to the executive when budget proposals are being prepared. But the final decision on costs and scope of the projects and the implementing MDAs should be made by the executive,” Agora Policy suggested.
In specific terms, it recommended that the executive arm of government should reassert the power to initiate, design, cost and implement all projects in federal budgets, explaining that all projects meant for legislative constituencies should be collapsed under the Strategic Intervention Projects (SIPs) or a new Constituency Projects Scheme (CPS).
“The projects under SIPs or CPS should be coordinated by a ministry or an executive agency, which will decide, based on federal priority, which projects to move forward out of those recommended by legislators, and which will determine the costs and the scope of and implementing MDAs for the projects, and prepare the proposed budgets for the projects.
“The proposal by the coordinating ministry/agency should form part of the appropriation bill submitted by the president to the National Assembly.
“The coordinating ministry should, in consultation with stakeholders, publish a policy framework specifying: the projects that can and cannot be funded under the scheme; the upper limit of the amount that can be spent on each project; the modalities for distribution and selection of constituency projects; the process and the deadline for legislators to recommend projects for the executive to include in budget proposals; the individuals and entities to be excluded from bidding as contractors under the scheme to prevent conflict of interests,” the research group advised.
Besides, it noted that the coordinating ministry or agency should be charged with monitoring implementation and assessing the impacts of the projects, publishing annual progress reports, and maintaining a portal where the public, the media and civic groups can track projects’ locations, costs, contractors, fund release and status.