In this report by Saturday Punch, voters the nation over are grumbling that they have yet to feel the effect of their administrators in the National Assembly
Voters are furious that their lives have not been affected by the N300bn the Federal Government has discharged for electorate ventures in the most recent four years and need the Federal Government to investigate how the cash has been spent.
The voters have claimed that their delegates in the National Assembly may have bungled the cash or occupied same for individual premiums.
Body electorate activities are improvement extends that are prescribed by the officials for usage in their supporters.
Saturday PUNCH can definitively report that the Federal Government has designated an aggregate total of N360bn to the National Assembly for voting public activities somewhere around 2011 and 2016.
A breakdown of the N360bn as caught in the financial plans throughout the previous five years demonstrated that the entirety of N60bn was distributed in 2012 while 2013 and 2014 had N100bn in every year.
In 2015, the aggregate of N40b was designated while the figure rose to N60bn in the 2016 financial period. In spite of the fact that the N60bn allotted for electorate ventures in the current year's financial plan has yet to be discharged to the administrators.
Be that as it may, voters guaranteed that there was nothing to demonstrate that beforehand discharged cash was spent on important ventures. The greater part of them told Saturday PUNCH that they had been ineffectively spoken to by their legislators.
While a portion of the legislators have circulated sewing machines, cruisers and tricycles to a couple of individuals from the electorates, most voters said in-laws and relatives of the officials were the main individuals who profited from the appropriation of the things.
It is qualified to note that a few individuals from the National Assembly have burned through three terms in the authoritative chambers. Regardless of their long stay in the Assembly, individuals from their voting public asserted that there was nothing to demonstrate that they were enough spoken to.
For instance, a senior in a senatorial locale in Benue State, who talked with one of our journalists on state of secrecy, said the third term representative speaking to the zone had yet to legitimize the reason for which he was chosen for as far back as nine years.
As per him, the congressperson has just dispersed a couple of tricycles to the general population as his voting public task since he was chosen nine years prior.
An individual from the House of Representatives from the Oju/Obi Federal Constituency in Benue State is likewise a third term administrator. A constituent, Mr. Tribute Oga, said nothing could be followed to the legislator as an undertaking the administrator had encouraged to the supporters.
As indicated by him, the legislator's nine years in the House of Representatives to the extent the whole Igede individuals are concerned is a waste.
The same thing was likewise said in regards to the legislator speaking to Sankara Federal Constituency in Benue State.
A few occupants of Osun Central Senatorial District and those of the Ifelodun/Boripe/Odo Otin in the Osun State House of Assembly required the cross examination of their agents to recognize what they did with the voting public undertaking cash they had so far gathered.
They said the administrators were basically speaking to themselves and simply offering gifts to a couple party pioneers, however disregarded most of the individuals from their bodies electorate.
Aside from the body electorate ventures voters in Bauchi State said they had yet to follow to their agents in the National Assembly, the voters were additionally stressed that the administrators' voices were not being heard on national issues.
"They are too tranquil as though they were not chose to serve the general population; even without them at the National Assembly, the administrative house won't be influenced in any capacity in light of the fact that their commitment is not felt," an occupant of Bauchi, Ahmed Kaigama, said, including, "We don't see or hear them supporting a bill or starting one."
Another Bauchi indigene, Alhaji Sani Sidi, said, "To be authentic, I am not fulfilled by the officials speaking to my state in the National Assembly. For as far back as nine years, the officials have abused the open doors given to them."
Be that as it may, the congressperson speaking to Bauchi South Senatorial District, Mallam Ali Wakili, let one know of our reporters that he accomplished his essential obligation by furnishing his constituents with quality representation.
In Ondo State, voters utilize "sham" to depict each body electorate venture said to have been executed by administrators in the state. It was accumulated that the vast majority of the activities quit working a couple days after their initiation.
Some voters, who spoke with one of our correspondents on condition of anonymity, confirmed that a few of the lawmakers sunk boreholes and provided transformer for the people, but none of the projects functioned beyond the first two weeks after their inauguration.
But a lawmaker representing Akure South/ North Federal Constituency from Ondo State, Mr. Afe Olowokere, said members of the National Assembly did not collect cash for constituency projects, but only made proposals which were included in the budget.
He said, “In my own case, I made proposal and it is provided for in the budget. As of now, nothing has been done but it is already provided for in the 2016 budget to every member.”
A lawmaker representing Akoko South-East/South-West in the House of Representatives, Mr. Babatunde Kolawole, also shared Olowokere’s view.
The grouse of voters in Oyo State is slightly different from their colleagues in other states.
The voters alleged that their representatives “collect cash for constituency projects and return home to intimidate them with the money, instead of fulfilling their campaign promises.”
A community leader, Chief Abel Folorunso, spoke on the challenges his community has been facing for over three decades. According to him, politicians have always promised to fix the problems and disappear after their elections.
Folorunso said, “We face flooding in Ido Local Government Area. There are other problems too. Politicians promised during campaigns and town hall meetings that they would fix the problems if we voted for them, but we have been expecting them since 1999 to fulfil the promise.”
A former women leader in Iseyin for one of the political parties, who simply identified herself as Mrs. Yusuff, said, “What lawmakers invest in their various constituencies is insignificant when compared with the huge amount of money they collect for constituency projects.”
However, the lawmaker representing Ibadan North-East and Ibadan South-East in the House of Representatives, Adedapo Lam-Adesina, said it was not enough to distribute materials for the people. He said it was high time politicians began to relate with their constituents.
Lam-Adesina said, “The issue goes beyond the fund from government meant for projects. I have spent my personal money to reach out to the people. Yes, we also distribute sewing machines, tricycles, motorcycles, pepper grinding machines, air dressing tools like dryers and others but we also go to schools to organise debates and come up with programmes that will enhance the quality of education and our society.”
The Kwara State Chairman, Congress for Nigerian Political Parties, Mr. Lawal Adebayo, said that there was no visibility of constituency projects in the three senatorial districts of the state.
Adebayo told one of our correspondents in Ilorin that there were many decayed infrastructure littering every part of the state.
According to him, most of the constituency projects said to have been executed by the lawmakers representing the state are only mass media propaganda.
He said, “We do not have anything on ground to show that any constituency project has been executed in Kwara State. In my area, we still don’t have functional hospital and the situation is getting worse.”
Alhaji Babatunde Aliyu from Omu-Aran, Kwara State, also said he could not recognise any constituency project in the area.
But the member representing Baruten/Kaiama Federal Constituency, Alhaji Mohammed Zakari, said lawmakers only identified projects needed by their different communities and constituencies, while the executive carried out the execution.
Also the senator representing Kwara South Senatorial District, Dr. Rafiu Ibrahim, said he had spent N25m on registration of many candidates for the West African School Certificate Examination, Senior Secondary School Examination and bursary for students at tertiary institutions.
Voters in Plateau Central Senatorial District flayed the senator representing the area for having nothing to show for his representation at the National Assembly.
One of the constituents, who simply identified himself as Maflul, said despite the fact that the senator was a two-time governor and one who should understand the problem of the people better, he had achieved nothing as a senator.
Maflul said, “Here we have a case of a senator whom we do not even see. The fertilizer blending plant he built as a governor did not receive any attention under him as a senator. He built the Plateau State University, Bokkos, but after 10 years, the university has yet to graduate any student and he is comfortably doing nothing to ensure that the university is developed.”
Many voters in Imo State described the money budgeted over the years for constituency projects as a waste. Three of them, who agreed that their names should be mentioned – Sampson Ogbuide, Jude Ogazi and John Okeke – urged that all the money allocated for constituency projects since 1999 should be probed.
They said there was nothing on ground to prove that a constituency project was ever executed in the state.
In Kano State, voters said the only “projects” they saw lawmakers from the state execute was the increase in the number of their wives.
A voter in Gwarzo Local Government Area of the state, Mallam Baba Yunusa, and Abdul Ibrahim from Bichi Local Government Area, lamented that their representatives hardly came to the communities since they had been inaugurated, unlike before their elections.
Some residents of Ado Odo/Ota Local Government Area in Ogun State told one of our correspondents that the senator who represented Ogun West Senatorial District between 2011 and 2015 did not do anything to impact the district.
Listing the facilities crying for attention in the senatorial district to include bad roads, the residents said it was sad that for the four years that the senator represented Ogun West, no project was facilitated by the senator to Lafenwa in Ado Odo/Ota Local Government Area.
Due to the alleged poor performance of the lawmakers, the Ekiti State Chairman, Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, Mr. Tunji Ogunlola, called for removal of constituency projects from the National Assembly.
Ogunlola said, “It should be the responsibility of the executive to execute projects and not that of lawmakers. They are to enact laws, so they have no business executing projects.”
A former senator who represented Ogun East Senatorial District between 2011 and 2015, Adegbenga Kaka, defended himself.
He said he never handle cash for constituency projects executed in his senatorial district while he was at the senate.
Kaka said some of the constituency projects were successful while others were inconclusive due to non-release of funds as claimed by contractors handling the projects.
SOURCE: PUNCH
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