ICPC probes northeast lawmakers over alleged diversion of constituency projects' funds
- ICPC is reportedly probing some lawmakers from the northeast zone over non-execution of constituency projects
- The lawmakers were accused of collecting funds for constituency projects for several years without executing them
- Senator Ali Ndume, however, said that it is the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) that the ICPC should hold accountable for any lapses in the execution of constituency projects
Members of the National Assembly from the Northeast are under probe by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over constituency projects fraud.
According to Thursday, some of the lawmakers from the northeast zone are accused of collecting funds for constituency projects for several years without executing them due to Boko Haram insurgency that ravaged the area.
The newspaper further reports that ICPC’s probe of constituency projects across the country showed that the northeast zone is the worst in terms of non-execution.
The agency noted that contractors could not be mobilized to the zone because of the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents.
Blames shifted
Reacting to the development, Senator Ali Ndume, who is representing Borno South senatorial district, said the lawmakers cannot be blamed.
According to Ndume, whatever lapses ICP discovered should be blamed on ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
Ndume explained that it is the MDAs that hired contractors that executed the projects, adding that lawmakers only recommended projects to be executed.
He said that the MDAs and the contractors should be queried, adding that accusing lawmakers of misappropriation of funds is spurious.
Ndume, however, noted that some contractors who had abandoned the projects were already returning to the sites as a result of the renewed focus on the impacts if constituency projects.
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Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari recently said that Nigerians are yet to benefit from constituency projects despite the huge amount of money the projects gulped in the last ten years.
The president lamented that despite spending huge sums of money running into hundreds of billions of naira on such projects, the people were yet to feel the impact.
Buhari made the remarks in his speech at the national summit on Diminishing Corruption in the Public Service, which held on Tuesday, November 19, in Abuja.
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