Budgit Demands Location Of 22 Projects Worth N2.1billion

AGROUP,Budgit, has urged the Federal Government to disclose the locations of over 22 zonal intervention projects worth over N2billion.

Budgit Head of Tracka, Uadamen Ilevbaoje, who made the call yesterday in Abuja at the official launch of Tracka’s Zonal Intervention Projects Report, revealed that between January 2020 and June 2021, the group tracked 1,439 zonal intervention projects. He claimed that by the time of tracking, 288 of the projects had not started, 21 were abandoned while the locations of 357 were not specified.

According to Ilevbaoje, within the period under review, Tracka also tracked 1,826 federal consolidated projects and discovered that 646 had been completed, 316 were ongoing, 335 had not started, 112 had been abandoned while locations of 417 were not specified.

He blamed the development on lack of effective project monitoring and secrecy in the preparation and implementation of budget.

“In the 2020 Zonal Intervention Projects list, our investigation revealed that the locations of over 22 project line items worth over

N2.1 billion remain unknown. In all, N39million was budgeted for the provision of potable water at Pindiga, Tunfure and other parts of Akko Federal Constituency in Gombe

State while N15million was budgeted for the drilling of two boreholes and overhead tanks in Maiyama Local Government Area, Kebbi Central Senatorial District, Kebbi State.

“However, these projects were difficult to track due to unspecified locations. MDAS need to provide precise project locations so that citizens have access to, and are able to monitor them. This will reduce chances of corruption by way of diversion of projects funds for personal needs,” he said.