By Adeola Badru

AS part of efforts of the Independent Corrupt Practices And Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to curb corruption in the execution of constituency projects by federal legislators in the country, the commission has enjoined Nigerians to always get themselves involved in the process of how such projects are being executed in their constituencies.

The Commissioner of ICPC in Oyo State, Mr Stephen Pimor, made the call on Tuesday, during the commission’s town hall meeting tagged: “My Constituency, My Project,” in collaboration with the National Orientation Agency (NOA), held at the Premier Hotel, Ibadan.

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He disclosed that the commission launched a Constituency Project Tackling Group (CPTG) in 2019, adding that the initiative led to the recovery of equipment and machinery meant for the benefits of ordinary people which were kept away and not distributed.

“In the process, ICPC recovered money for government from those who did not execute the projects, underperformed or inflated the projects,” Pimor stated.

He added: “We wish to state that constituency and other projects are funded by the government with public money. That means that the projects are not gifts or donations to your community by political representatives. They belong to you as fruits of national resources and government responsibility to the people.”

“Your representatives in the legislature who select constituency projects do so because they are closer to you and it is expected they understand your needs better. You should, therefore, work with them to make sure that projects were chosen for you actually reflect your needs.”

“Get involved, request the audience of your representative so you can put your needs across to them. You can follow up on projects approved for your community by asking for information on them. You should also go a step further by showing keen interest in how the projects are being executed,” he advised.

The ICPC boss in the state noted that this action would go a long way in helping the legislators who might not know how contractors are performing on the field and helping the citizens as well to ensure that projects deliver are durable and of the right quality.

In his remark, the Director-General of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr Garba Abari, who was represented by the director of the agency in Oyo State, Mrs Dolapo Dosumu, noted that the initiative would give the representatives of the people the required opportunity to identify the infrastructural lapses in their domain for government intervention.

“It is important to mention here that ICPC has been interrogating the process of location and implementation of constituency projects and has found out that the vital components of the prices are to get the citizens to buy in or take ownership of these projects since, essentially, it is meant to serve their communities.”

“It is our view that when communities take ownership of these projects, there will be genuine interest to preserve and protect them. It will also ensure that contractors, ever eager to maximise profits, execute the projects to the highest standards required. Community ownership will ensure that legislators and other officials of government are alerted when there is poor execution of these contracts and that they also held accountably.”

“It is imperative that a new template for implementing the constituency projects be adopted. The new template we advocate under the new partnership between NOA and ICPC is for the people to own the entire process beginning from conception to execution. It is through this that the aims of bringing the government to the grassroots will be achieved,” he stressed.

Vanguard