The Federal Government on Tuesday said that constituency projects have over the years been used by legislators at the federal and state levels to embezzle and divert public funds.
The Federal Government expressed this position at the the one-day summit organised by the House of Representatives and Conference of Speakers in collaboration with the National Institute for Legislative Studies, NILS in Abuja.
Speaking at the summit, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr David Babachir Lawal said that in the past, lawmakers had used constituency projects as a conduit pipe to embezzle money, but that the Muhammadu Buhari administration had come to put a stop to the practice.
Also speaking at the summit, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babandede Fashola advised legislators to carefully look at their constitutionally enshrined functions to duplication of roles meant for the local governments.
“I say this because we must avoid the risk of crowded projects where legislators at the national level are made strictly to implement constituency projects that involve primary healthcare centres, which are for the local governments," he said.
He added that although the provision of grassroots projects was part of the change mantra of the present administration, government would not be complacent to see monies voted for public projects go into private pockets.
“In line with the change mantra of the government, which is determined to execute projects that will impact positively on the lives of people of every federal constituency and senatorial district in executable and evenly distributed manner, I charge all the stakeholders and participants at this summit to extensively brainstorm on how best to fully deliver, utilize and extend constituency projects in the best interest of the people and come up with appropriate recommendations to government on how best to proceed.”
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