Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, the Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission has expressed dismay that the N100 billion annual allocation to constituency projects has yet to achieve the Federal Government’s objective.
Owasanoye made the remark on Thursday in Abuja during a special town hall meeting on the fight against corruption organized by the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture in conjunction with the National Orientation Agency.
He regretted that the FG’s lofty initiative had not made any significant impact in the lives of communities in the country in terms of infrastructure development.
Owasanoye said that the principal focus of the first phase of the tracking started some months ago and the target was on health and education sectors.
Owasanoye said that the tracking committee was made up of representatives from Budget Office, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Bureau of Public Procurement and Office of the Auditor-General.
He described the outcome of the first phase as revealing and interesting, adding that monies meant for constituency projects, not executed or completed, were recovered.
He said, “At least 200 contractors returned to site even before we got to them with some sponsors of the projects going back to complete them.
“In some cases, when the empowerment items were locked up somewhere because somebody wanted to trade them off, we gave them one week to distribute such items to the beneficiaries.
“For me, it makes more sense rather than arresting a senator and locking him up without delivering the items or facilities to the intended beneficiaries. “With this approach, we may not see the sponsors in jail but the idea is that the communities will be happy and we will be happy also,” the ICPC boss said.
Source: Punch
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