Akpabio’s constituency gets over N4bn constituency projects in 2024 budget
Constituency projects worth about N4.142 billion were allocated to the North-west Senatorial District of Akwa Ibom State, represented by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, in the 2024 budget, PREMIUM TIMES can report.
The projects, statutorily known as Zonal Intervention Projects (ZIP), are spread across some of the 10 local government areas in the district.
The district comprises Abak, Essien, Etim Ekpo, Ika, Ikono, Ikot Ekpene, Ini and Obot. Others are Oruk Anam and Ukanafun LGAs.
Findings
A review of the budget by this newspaper revealed that the locations of some of these projects are not only vague, they are listed under suspicious subheads in the document.
Besides, the descriptions of the line items in the document do not indicate whether the projects were nominated by Mr Akpabio though they are located in his district.
NDDC AD
During the review, PREMIUM TIMES identified a total of 15 projects worth N3.7 billion whose specific locations are not clear although they are in Mr Akpabio’s constituency.
For instance, N300 million was allocated for the “Training/skills acquisition of women/youth and empowerment in fishery in Inen, Nsaik, Usaka and Okon areas.”
Although the local government areas where these towns and villages are located are not indicated in the budget, a search on the areas using Google Maps showed that they are in the senatorial district.
Several other projects were not credited to any constituency though further search on the areas still indicated that they are within Mr Akpabio’s district. The projects and their costs are:
-N350 million for “Promotion and development of maize value in Edem Akai, Ikot Obio Nta and Ibiaku”.
-N300 million for “Promotion and development of Cassava value chain in selected communities in Akanaan, Nkana and Nkek”.
-N300 million for “Youth entrepreneurship training and provision of start-up grants for rural farmers in selected locations of Ikot Afanga, Itu Edino and Akoyo areas.”
-N300 million for Youth entrepreneurship training and provision of start-up grants for Agri-Business owners in selected LGAs of Nto Udoete, Ikot Ukeh Etor and Abak Itenge areas.
-N250 million allocated for training and empowerment programme in Rice-cum fish farming for selected youth in Nto Esu, Ikot Ekefre and Ikot Ekong communities.
N442mn ambiguous projects
The review also showed that there are other projects allocated to the senatorial district worth N442 million. The locations of these projects and their subheads are however ambiguous. They are:
-N200 million for the “Empowerment training in Brackish and marine fish farming for youth and women in coastal communities of Akwa Ibom North-west Senatorial District”. This project is listed in the budget of the Federal Co-operative College, Ibadan.
-N50 million for the “Selection and training of selected youth for supernumerary (spy) at the Nigerian Police College in Akwa Ibom North-west Senatorial District”. The project is listed in the budget of the National Film and Censors Board (NFVCB).
-N90 million allocated for the “Supply of tricycles to selected youths from different villages across Akwa Ibom North-west Senatorial District”. The project is listed under the National Directorate of Employment (NDE).
-N32 million allocated for the “Supply and distribution of employment equipment to selected artisans across Akwa Ibom North-west Senatorial District”. The project is also under the National Directorate of Employment.
-N50 million allocated for the “Provision of mini buses for the Obong and chieftaincy committee in Akwa Ibom North-west Senatorial District”. The project is under the National Directorate of Employment.
2024 Budget
In November 2023, President Bola Tinubu submitted a budget of N27.5 trillion for the 2024 fiscal year to a joint session of the National Assembly.
However, in passing the budget, the lawmakers raised its total estimate to N28.7 trillion, a difference of about N1.2 trillion.
President Tinubu signed the budget into law on 1 January 2024. It was his first full budget since assuming office on 29 May 2023.
Ningi’s padding allegation
But barely two months after the document was signed, the Bauchi Central senator, Abdul Ningi, said it was padded with over N3 trillion.
Mr Ningi, a ranking senator, who was also at the time heading the Northern Senator Forum (NSF), an umbrella body of the 58 senators from the 19 northern states and FCT, said the Forum commissioned an independent body to look at the budget and discovered that the document was padded.
But the Senate suspended him for three months for the claim just as some members of the NSF disowned him.
Mr Ningi, a PDP member, was pardoned and recalled on 28 May. He had initially challenged his suspension claiming it was illegal and threatened to take legal action.
Jarigbe claims, more controversy
Meanwhile, in the course of discussing Mr Ningi’s position on the budget in the chamber, Cross River North senator, Agom Jarigbe, revealed that some ranking senators got N500 million worth of projects allocated to their constituencies in the budget.
“If we want to go into this issue, all of us are culpable. Some senators here, so-called senior senators, got N500 million each. I am a ranking senator. I didn’t get. Did I go to the press? We don’t have to go into this issue,” Mr Jarigbe squealed.
However, the review of the ZIP document by this newspaper indicates that there is substantial merit in Messrs Ningi and Jarigbe’s claim.
ZIP Fund
Nigeria’s federal lawmakers are entitled to a statutory ZIP fund for constituency projects.
The ZIP is a N100 billion fund allocated to lawmakers annually so that each serving lawmaker can execute projects in their constituencies.
The practice started during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to bring the government closer to the people, especially in the rural communities.
The federal government sets aside the money to finance constituency projects and to ensure implementation through the Office of the Special Adviser on Millennium Development Goals (SDGs) in agreement with the lawmakers.
The N100 billion is shared between the Senate and the House of Representatives at a ratio of 40 per cent to 60 per cent respectively.
In the 108-member Senate, the ranking status is considered in sharing the fund. Those high on the ranking, who are expected to get a larger ZIP allocation, are the presiding officers and the principal officers of the National Assembly. There are two presiding officers in the Senate – the senate president and the deputy senate president. There are eight principal officers with the majority party, APC, having four and the minority parties having four.
The principal officers are the senate leader, deputy senate leader, chief whip and deputy chief whip.
Others are minority leader, deputy minority leader, minority whip and deputy minority whip.
With his constituency getting projects worth about N4 billion, out of the total N100 billion, this means, Mr Akpabio’s constituency got about 4 per cent of the total ZIP allocations. The majority of the 109 constituencies, like that of Mr Jarigbe, got less than N500 million.
Mr Akpabio is a ranking senator. He was first elected into the Senate in 2015 on the PDP ticket after serving as Akwa Ibom governor for two terms of eight years.
He did not return to the Senate in 2019. That year, the Muhammadu Buhari administration appointed him as the minister of Niger Delta having defected to the APC.
Mr Akpabio was reelected in 2023 and was elected senate president on 13 June.
Constituency projects, source of corruption
Former President Obasanjo under whose administration the constituency projects initiative began, once described it as nothing but corruption.
Mr Obasanjo spoke in 2017 at the two-day investments forum in Niger State.
“I hope our lawmakers will use their position and act positively so that when they put in road projects in the budget, they will not turn it into what they now term as constituency projects. You and I know what constituency project means, it is simply corruption,” Mr Obasanjo said.
Successive governments after Mr Obasanjo also took the same position.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan was quoted to have said “Don’t put the goat where yam is because the goat will eat the yam” in an apparent reference to corrupt acts dogging constituency projects.
His successor, Muhammadu Buhari, echoed a similar claim in 2019 when he said the impact of the over N1 trillion allocated for constituency projects in the last ten years could hardly be seen in the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
The latest report by the Independent Corruption Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), showed that many constituency projects are still shrouded in corrupt and shady dealings.
According to the report, some of the projects were taken away from intended beneficiaries and channelled to the private coffers of lawmakers, while in some cases, there was a conspiracy between lawmakers, executing agencies and supervisors who, after receiving gratification, signed certificates of completion for uncompleted projects.
The report also revealed how thousands of pupils in some states were denied the use of learning facilities because projects awarded were either poorly executed or not completed.
CSO leader speaks
The President of Campaign for Democracy, Ifeanyi Odili, described the constituency project as a tool for corruption.
“I have toured many states, I am yet to see projects worth millions of naira as they claimed to have been constructed by a senator or a member of the House of Representatives except a few culverts. I only read them in newspapers and social media. That was why I cried out last December that Nigerians should send them away if they came to them with 5kg of rice and two litres of groundnut oil.
“Instead, they should demand from them what they were promised during campaigns when they were seeking votes. They should ask them: where is electricity? Where is qualitative education? Where is the standard hospital?
“All the money earmarked for constituency projects are all flukes, deceits. The money is intentionally given to these guys, lawmakers by the federal government to seal their lips,” he said.
Mr Odili lamented the suspension of Mr Ningi, saying if he had his way he would close down the two chambers.
“If I have my way, both chambers would have been closed down through constitutional amendment because Nigeria as a nation does not need them.”
(PREMIUM TIMES)