The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civil Education (CHRICED) has encouraged Nigerians to hold their representatives in government accountable.
The nonprofit said every Nigerian must play their part in holding their representatives accountable especially as the number of abandoned public projects across the country continue to rise.
A recent survey carried out by the Chartered Institute of Project Management of Nigeria revealed that there were around 56,000 abandoned government projects, estimated at N12 trillion, across Nigeria.
In its reaction to the survey, the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) said that many contractors were unable to complete projects due to poor budget performance and failure to carry along community leaders.
‘We voted politicians into office and go to sleep, expecting them to bring to us the rich harvest of democracy’, the Executive Director of CHRICED, Ibrahim Zikirullahi, represented by the organisation’s Senior Programmes Officer, Omoniyi Adewoye, at a one-day community accountability report-back forum in Kano State, said.
‘Democracy is growing our corn but also lots of weeds to kill our reward. Every farmer knows that you must be involved in the growth of your corn if you want a rich harvest: watering the plants, removing the weeds, combating the pests, protecting the crop until harvest time.
‘You must get involved if you want to harvest the gains of democracy, you must be part of the governance process in all things that concern you. You cannot leave governance to the politicians alone.
‘As a citizen and a voter, you must become a lot interested in what happens to the projects around your domain. As we all know, the constituency project is one of the many government programs, which could have helped spread development, and give citizens a sense of belonging and benefits from public resources’.
Also speaking, the Resident Anti-Corruption Commissioner in Kano and Jigawa States, Ibrahim Garba-Kagara, urged constituents to report shady deals in the execution of constituency projects.
Photo source: Jeremy Weate
