Senator Francis Alimikhena representing Edo North Senatorial District has wasted N950 million nominated in 2017, the people of his constituency has said.
Speaking to transparency agency, Tracka, they expressed their displeasure at the projects nominated by the senator and the impact it had on the constituency.
According to some of the people who spoke to Tracka the Senate Deputy Chief Whip did not consult them before nominating the ‘misplaced projects’, noting that, they have more pressing needs.
Tracka findings on the 2017 Zonal Intervention Projects (ZIP) in Edo North Senatorial District showed that over N950 million was devoted to empowerment provisions without clear information on project locations.
“This makes it difficult for the residents to track and demand the implementation of the projects,” Tracka said.
Tracka wrote letters and delivered them to the Senate and House of Representatives members from the region but got no response.
Tracka did get a response from the National Human Right Commission after repeated inquiry.
BREAKING NEWS:
National Human Right Commission has provided Tracka with details of N380m empowerment projects in 2017 budget nominated by Senator Francis Alimikhena representing Edo North Senatorial District. pic.twitter.com/8N4Lvm5XhQ— Tracka.ng (@TrackaNG) September 21, 2018
However, Tracka went to Edo North Senatorial District and discovered the following projects were monitored at different locations across the respective local government areas: sensitisation/training and strategic empowerment of youth and human rights advocacy for N150 million in Etsako West and Etsako East LGA, Edo North Senatorial District.
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Sensitisation and strategic empowerment on the rights of people living with HIV/AIDs for N130 million in Etsako East LGA, Edo North Senatorial District.
Strategic empowerment of youth through the provision of tricycles, motorcycles, generators, sewing machines for N80 million in Owan East/Owan West Federal Constituency advocacy and sensitisation on the rights of children and women for N100 million in Etsako East LGA, Edo North Senatorial District, Edo state.
But Tracka findings from constituents revealed that many of the residents of these communities expressed displeasure over project implementation in the previous years.
“They complained about lack of inclusion in the budgeting process. They said that if they had been included, the politicians would have done a needs assessment before inserting the projects in the budget,” Tracka monitoring officer said.
