₦airaland Forum

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BEN BRUCE GOES BERSERK, ATTACKS TRACKA OVER CONSTITUENCY PROJECTS

Senator Ben Murray-Bruce representing Bayelsa East Senatorial District has gone berserk on Twitter after transparency platform, Tracka, demanded an update on a N220m project he nominated.

Murray-Bruce, who will not be returning to the 9th National Assembly wasted no time in misconstruing the demand by Tracka and labeling them as a “deceptive and dishonest organization”.

Requesting an update from the senator, Tracka explained that it was aware that 50 per cent of the funds for the constituency project has been paid by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The organization then demanded that the senator who nominated the project provide progress report.

“Dear Sen. Ben Murray-Bruce, we are aware that the FG has released 50% funds to MDAs. Can you provide an update on the N220m projects you nominated in the 2018 budget to your constituents


But Senator Murray-Bruce was having none of it. He immediately lashed out at Tracka, claiming that Tracka was a dishonest organization. He also said he had made two attempts of responding to Tracka.


In his response, he wrote, “Dear Tracka, You are a deceptive and dishonest organisation trying to deceive the public. I’ve answered this same question TWICE. I received NO PENNY for any project. If you truly want to know, contact the ministry involved. Same thing I said last time,” he tweeted.


https://www.chronicle.ng/2019/05/ben-bruce-goes-berserk-attacks-tracka-over-constituency-projects/

luvinhubby:
Very appropriate response.

Tracka is a very deceptive organisation fronting for the presidency. No legislator receives a kobo for any constituency project, their role is to nominate a project for their constituency, the project is then added to the budget and the ministry responsible receives the funds for those projects and excutes such.

If Tracka needs to ask questions, let them ask the ministry involved and not the senators

According to a recent investigation by a national newspaper, “although constituency projects are advertised as required by law, lawmakers have devised dubious ways of ensuring that only companies fronting for them or those belonging to their cronies are pre-qualified”.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/exactly-meaning-constituency-project/

luvinhubby:
Very appropriate response.

Tracka is a very deceptive organisation fronting for the presidency. No legislator receives a kobo for any constituency project, their role is to nominate a project for their constituency, the project is then added to the budget and the ministry responsible receives the funds for those projects and excutes such.

If Tracka needs to ask questions, let them ask the ministry involved and not the senators

seunmsg:
You have very limited knowledge of how things work. No MDA can award the contract for a constituency project without the knowledge of the lawmaker that nominated the project. In most cases that I have audited, the lawmakers personally nominates the contractors. In some cases, the lawmakers even signs the certificate of completion. Only deceptive lawmaker like Ben Bruce will claim he has no knowledge about how the constituency project he nominated was executed.

Again, does it make sense for a lawmaker to nominate a multi million Naira constituency project and then fail to monitor its execution? If he truly doesn’t know the level of execution of the project he nominated for his constituency, then he’s s very useless representative of his people.

eedriyz:
What's the purpose of recommending a project you won't be keeping a tab on? Well, there is a rumour that these Senators sometimes frustrate these projects by billing the MDAs... I don't know how true tho.

plaindealer:
Funny enough, the Senator is always on twitter shouting and demanding accountability from the FG and other people, but in this case, he's saying he's above accountability regarding the projects he himself nominated on behalf of his own constituency.

It doesn't matter if he touched the money or not, it's about making sure your constituency is not shortchanged and that the project that you nominated in your constituency is completed and not abandoned, that's if you really care.

A responsible and caring Senator and public official should have said, I'll dig into the matter, I'll put pressure on the contractor and make sure the project is completed, but he can not because he himself is the contractor via a proxy so it's like demanding accountability from himself.

Constituency Projects: Cesspool Of Corruption

Constituency projects are inserted by lawmakers in the federal budget to ensure, theoretically, that all constituencies across Nigeria have government presence via tangible projects.

Critics of the scheme point at the implementation that have been controversial and are sometimes characterised by corruption especially because lawmakers for each constituency need to work with a relevant government agency to execute the project, including nominating the contractor for it.

A lawmaker representing Kaduna Central at the upper chamber of the National Assembly, Shehu Sani, in February 2018 admitted that implementation of constituency projects is an avenue for theft and corruption employed by lawmakers.


He argued that constituency projects have no place in Nigeria’s democratic or constitutional development.

He noted that instead of exerting energy on execution of these projects, lawmakers should focus more on oversight functions. Mr Sani also said the execution of constituency projects is a distraction to lawmakers.

“As far as I’m concerned, from my little experience in the National Assembly, it’s going to be a herculean task for any NGO or group of NGOs to go through that very system of allocations that were tied to senators and members.

“We must reach that very point that we should be expecting from our senators and reps. nothing other than for them to perform oversight functions. This idea of allocating money for constituency project is one issue that I believe consistently distracts the attention of members of the National Assembly.”

He described how corrupt lawmakers loot funds meant for execution of constituency projects.



Despite many defences by lawmakers to exonerate themselves from blame over failure of constituency projects’ implementation, PREMIUM TIMES in 2016, compiled a report of the many ways crooked lawmakers steal from the nation’s commonwealth.

It analysed how the execution of these projects are usually done on paper and how in reality, it is an arrangement to loot between the lawmakers and heads of MDAs.

The report highlighted how being a friend/associate to either the leaders of the National Assembly is key to getting rich through the budget. Most lawmakers lobby heads of ministries to insert flimsy projects as constituency projects and also arrange with friends/cronies or even spouses to disguise as contractors to get contracts.

A former president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, has consistently criticised the scheme and called “constituency projects” fraudulent. He described the projects being embarked upon by the lawmakers as “corruption”.



https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/287741-despite-controversies-constituency-projects-gulp-n200bn-in-three-years.html