Mr. Obinna Chidoka, a federal lawmaker from Anambra state has abandoned N30 million Anogu Civic Centre that is his constituency project despite funds released by the federal government.
Under the deal, Mr. Chidoka, a federal lawmaker in the House of Representatives, nominated the completion of Anogu Civic Centre at Umuoji in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra state as his Zonal Intervention Project (constituency project).
A deal that was struck using the Anambra-Imo Rivers Basin Development Authority, and contract for the job was awarded to Scel Premium Limited, a company that has its head office at Abuja, the Nigerian capital city.
Worse still, the federal government of Nigeria has since in 2021 appropriated and released money for the project, however, it has continued to remain abandoned.
Tracka, a public accountability organization that visited the project site to inspect it, has since disclosed that it has been abandoned and appealed to the lawmaker to ensure the project is completed and delivered to the people it is meant to serve.
Constituency projects are nominated by the lawmakers for the needs of their constituents and recommend same to the executive during budgeting; this will help to improve the living condition of the people in their constituents through building local infrastructures and rural empowerment.
But, often, community residents are not aware such monies have been given to their representatives, and that makes accountability very difficult.
Mr. Chidoka is not the only offender, Nigerian experience has shown that Lawmakers do not execute constituency projects as they appear on the national budget, and getting them to account for monies approved for such intervention is always difficult.
MAWA Foundation could not immediately reach out to the Anambra lawmaker for a response.