Nigerian lawmakers are stepping up the pressure on the federal government and President Muhammadu Buhari to promptly release all funds earmarked for their “constituency projects” in 2014, in addition to new allocations for the same projects in 2015, PREMIUM TIMES can report today.

Ministry of Finance officials fear the money could be misused and are cautious in dealing with the lawmakers, who they believe are cash-strapped as they have yet to reap a major windfall since their elections in March.

Of the N100 billion allotted for the constituency projects last year, N51.88 billion was not released due to funds unavailability, officials say.

The government provided additional N50 billion for the projects in the 2015 budget.

Since budgeted funds are released quarterly, the government has approved N12.5 billion for the projects for the first quarter of 2015, which is between January and March, and has also approved the release of another N12.5 billion from last year’s balance.
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