Benue Constituents Seek N3 Billion Project Allowance Details from National Assembly Members

Benue Constituents Seek N3 Billion Project Allowance Details from National Assembly Members

The Benue Development Movement (BDM), emphasizing the importance of citizen-led accountability, submitted a petition on behalf of the constituents. Members of the National Assembly representing Benue State have been called upon by their constituents to provide detailed accounts of the N3 billion constituency project allowances allocated to them by the Nigerian government.

In the petition on Tuesday obtained by SaharaReporters and addressed to the Chairman, National Assembly Caucus (Benue), National Assembly Complex, Abuja, the consituents demanded a “Mid-term Accountability Session” to account for their stewardship

Benue Development Movement (BDM), which wrote for the constituents, said it considered the imperative of citizen-led accountability.

It said, “Recent media report shows that lawmakers get significant increase in constituency allowances as serving Senators now receives N2 billion, while House of Representatives members get N1 billion each as constituency allowances respectively.

“Taken on its face value, Constituency Allowance is to help Senators and House of Representative members address socio-economic challenges in their immediate constituencies.

“Our investigations show that half of these funds are not properly utilised as intended. Even where feeble attempts were made, they foisted on the people, shoddy and substandard projects which do not reflect the needs of the communities.

“It is our civic responsibilities to ensure that public funds are altruistically dispensed for the benefit of all citizens in the state. In order to promote accountability in public offices, we seek to hold a mid-term public accountability briefing in a townhall meeting with all senators and House of Representative members representing the good people of Benue State in the National Assembly to give accountability for the 2024/2025 constituency projects and the level of implementation.

“The townhall meeting will create opportunity to galvanise all relevant actors to proactively engage the constituency project planning, and implementation process, and empowers citizens with the skills and capacity to ensure funds for constituency projects achieve the real objective for which they were appropriated.

“It is also in line with the initiative of the ICPC to track the implementation of constituency projects across Nigeria.Travel guides

“Taking cognizance of your very busy work schedules, we request that you choose a date that best suits your convenience and communicate to us appropriately.

“We would however demand that all Senators and House of Representatives members be physically present at the Mid-term Accountability Session to account for their stewardships. Our organisations shall mobilise (10) constituents from the various Federal Constituencies and Senatorial districts to attend the public accountability briefing to further promote inclusive and open governance.”