It has been revealed that Abia South Senatorial District in 2024 received N266 million constituency projects. This is even as some Senators of other districts got more for their constituencies.
This was revealed by PREMIUM TIMES on the heels of the allegation that the Senators receive jumbo pays.
While most Nigerians have been lamenting the monetary earning of members of the National Assembly, the lawmakers have dismissed the allegations.
This is even among the lawmakers the upper chamber leaders’ benefit more from their positions.
And some lawmakers see nothing wrong with the upper chamber leaders benefiting from their positions.
For instance, at the peak of the crisis, former Senate Minority Leader Enyinnaya Abaribe defended allocations to presiding and principal officers.
He stated that there are some positions people occupy from which they should enjoy certain perks.
Abaribe revealed that his Abia South Senatorial District got constituency projects worth N266 million in 2024.
He said, “So, I think that at the end of the day, what you see really is that…well, I’m an APGA Senator. The only APGA Senator in the Senate. Maybe, being a minority, they didn’t consider me worthy of being given. Nobody told me about that money.
“I wanted to say that, without equivocation, both Jarigbe and the Senate leader tried to clarify this issue.
“Number one: Nobody was given N500 million. Even a few of my colleagues called me to say, ‘Ahh! You get N500 million. We dey beg you for money, but you no wan give us one Naira out of it.’
“Can you imagine? So, of course, I got N266 million for what’s called the Zonal Intervention Fund, ZIF. Which Nigerians call “constituency projects” funds. And this thing takes a budget circle which is 12 months. So if at the end of 12 months you don’t see what’s in the budget for your constituency, then you hold your representatives whether in the House of Representatives or Senate culpable,” Abaribe said in a television interview.
Recall that the allocation of constituency projects, otherwise known as ZIP, was initiated during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The allocation is to address the infrastructure deficit in all parts of the country.
A N100 billion fund is allocated annually to the lawmakers to execute projects in their constituencies.
But in a recent interview, former President Obasanjo described it as nothing but corruption.
Obasanjo was quoted to have said, “I hope our lawmakers will use their position and act positively. So that when they put in road projects in the budget, they will not turn it into what they now term as constituency projects. You and I know what constituency project means; it is simply corruption.”
source: Premium Times
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