Legislative Constituency Project in Nigeria: Implication for National Development

Abstract

The Greek philosopher Aristotle averred that state exists for public goods and continues to exist for the greater good of humanity. Democracy on the other hand gives people opportunity to determine how they are governed. Naturally, the electorate or body of Nigerian masses look up to government for democracy dividends. The Nigerian National Assembly in response to the yearnings of their constituents for development/ federal presence demanded and got "Constituency Project" fund. Since the inception of constituency project in Nigeria there have been misconceptions, misinterpretations and judgement of the constituency project administration. This and indeed some other factors have painted the hallowed chambers of National Assembly in bad light. Therefore, this paper seeks to find out the origin, management etc. of constituency projects in Nigeria. It adopts desk research method; drawing data mainly from secondary source and adopts analytical research in arriving at finding. It found that members of the National Assembly merely identify the needs of the constituents and recommend same to the executive during budgeting. Ultimately, they have no direct control over their implementation; hence the award, financing and supervision of constituency projects are the preserves of appropriate agencies other than the National Assembly. Findings also show that other democracies have similar arrangements in place.

An Exploratory Evaluation of Legislative Lawlessness in the Nigerian Budget Process

“…There is no known Nigerian law that supports the constituency project dilemma. It has grown gradually to become a norm as observed by Udefuna et al, 2013 andGbajabiamila, 2014. If the National Assembly (NASS) wants to live above the fault it should pass a law to legalise the idea and leave the business to a Commission independent of it or rather legalise constituency project and allow the Executive to choose from among the projects submitted by it to the Budget Office of the Federation.…”

A Stock-Taking on the Contribution of Women in Nigeria’s National Assembly, 1999-2011

“…A constituency project can simply mean a project in any community that is nominated into a budget by a particular legislator. Ayogu Eze corroborates this above position when he argued that; "Our role is simply to identify the projects for our constituency while the Executive arm of government will identify the contractor to execute the project" (Udefuna, 2015). Ike Ekweremadu justifies the rationale behind the idea of constituency projects to have come up as a result of the need to ensure equitable distribution of infrastructure in every part of the country (ibid.).…”

“…18 Furthermore, the achievements of Helen Essuene, a Senator who represented the Akwa-Ibom South Senatorial District cannot be easily forgotten. During her time in the Senate, she was the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women Affairs and Youth Development and she draws a lot of attention to feminine issues like rape, domestic violence, and 35 percent Affirmative Action et cetera (Udefuna, 2015). Her committee was one of the most active Committees in the National Assembly.…”

Assessment of Perceived Performance of Solar-Powered Borehole Projects in Nigeria

“…Development in rural communities in the bid to meet the need of the people by providing the social-economic infrastructure in these regions can be done with or without the support of the government (Uguru & Meldrum, 2019). Usually, constituency projects are carried out by the Federal Government of Nigeria (the executive) on behalf of the National Assembly (the legislature) since it is the duty of the national assembly to approve policy while it is the duty of the Federal Government to implement those policies as indicated in the annual budget (Udefuna et al, 2013).…”

“…These projects include access to safe and portable drinking water, sanitation facilities, health care facilities, empowerment programs to alleviate poverty, provision of employment opportunities, etc. The idea of constituency project is not only found in Nigeria as it is found in several democracy-practising countries, though it is usually referred to as Constituency Development Projects (CDP) (Udefuna et al, 2013).…”