Empowerment Projects High Among 2017 Constituency Projects

The 2017 edition of the Tracka Report focuses on the execution of constituency projects in the 2017 Budget; it highlights the following common themes: re-appearance of past projects, a high number of unexecuted projects, and over 50% zonal intervention projects committed to empowerment projects. These trends were present across all the states of the federation and further show how Nigerians are alienated through non-inclusion in the budgeting process.

Despite the contribution of Nigerians to socioeconomic development, they grapple daily with dire developmental challenges which the budget aims—but is unable—to solve. One way to change this narrative is to connect citizens with national development through involvement in the budget process, and this is what Tracka aims at by tracking projects throughout the country.

In 2017, 24 Project Tracking Officers (PTOs), were in 617 communities across 374 Local Government Areas in the 20 focus states to sensitise residents on the 2017 budgetary provisions situated in their communities. Based on our findings between May 2017 and June 2018, 1,228 projects were tracked; of these, 478 have been completed, 200 are ongoing, 364 have not started, 173 unspecified locations while 13 projects are abandoned.

Tracka’s 2017 Report shines light on the status of different projects across our focus states. We observed an increased number of abandoned and non-executed projects. On several occasions, where projects were delivered, the project sums were inflated and some were executed with inferior products, resulting in endangerment of lives, developmental setbacks and further expenditure. This happens as contractors try to maximise profit by cutting costs, and they are emboldened to do so because often, there are no sanctions, despite complaints and consequences. While others projects were executed, they were put under lock and key awaiting commissioning while the community suffered.

We also observed an increase in the number of empowerment projects which are difficult to track—as specific project locations are hardly given—and their impact difficult to measure. In connection to this, is a developing trend whereby politicians present community projects as personal donations tagging them with their own names. Being a year before an election year, some of these politicians hope to use these projects as campaign tools to garner votes from their constituencies. We insist that these projects are products of citizen’s taxes and not the politicians’ largesse.

While Tracka 2017 Report highlights these issues, we also hope that more Nigerians will be more involved in the budgeting process. That is why we continue our work. One community, one project at a time, Tracka’s influence is spreading through our focus communities. With increasing appeal for this project, in the coming year, we plan to scale to all 36 states of the federation even as we continue to ensure that the budget transforms Nigerian lives projects that impact communities. To make this a reality, we will continue to arm citizens with public information for them to engage government by demanding accountability, improved service delivery and an equitable society for all. This is even more important as 2019, an election year, beckons.

Signed,

Communications Lead, BudgIT

ABOUT TRACKA                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Tracka was established by BudgIT to address critical issues surrounding social and economic development in Nigeria, precisely the lack of citizens inclusion in developmental projects, an ever-increasing number of abandoned projects and poor execution of the few projects implemented. Over the years, Nigerians in rural communities have little or no ideas about government projects in their communities, Tracka then enables citizens to collaborate, track and give feedback on public projects in their community. Tracka uses both online and offline engagement channels to keep residents informed about government projects.  The platform is www.tracka.ng

Photo Caption: Some constituency project pictures captured from the Internet.