The Executive Assistant to Governor Seyi Makinde on Administration, Reverend Idowu Ogedengbe, and the Bishop of Ibadan Diocese, the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Reverend Joseph Akinfenwa, have called on lawmakers to use fund allocated for constituency projects prudently.

They also urged Nigerians to ask questions from lawmakers on how money allocated for constituency projects is being spent.They made the call during a capacity building workshop on tracking implementation and utilisation of constituency projects in Oyo State with focus on health and education sectors organised by Rural and Urban Stewardship Initiative for Sustainable Development (RUSISD) at St. Annes Church, Molete, Ibadan, Oyo State.

Ogedengbe said: “It is people’s money. Give it to the people. People have the right to ask questions. They don’t have to wait for the election. It is not personal money but national money.”

Akinfenwa emphasised that proper monitoring and evaluation of the projects is pivotal to meeting its intended purpose. He said: “For a developing nation like Nigeria, education and health are two major developmental concerns of government and stakeholders in the development community. For this reason, significant percentage of annual budget is committed to these two development focus areas.”

“In addition, various development agencies and international bodies support government efforts by providing various forms of financial and other support for educational and health initiatives. Thus, year after year, large sums of money are expended for the purpose of achieving qualitative delivery of educational and health services across the nation.

“Over time, it has been discovered that in many parts of Nigeria, the impact on the ground does not often match the size or magnitude of funds claimed to have been expended on educational and health projects. This can be due to many reasons.

“However, it can be argued that the most unfortunate part of this scenario is the lamentations about project failure or outright non-delivery. This post-mortem approach delivers no benefit, because in many cases, the damage is already done, and the culprit has already escaped.” On his part, the chairman of RUSISD Ven. Adewale Sanda, also stressed the need to track projects, especially in the health and education sectors.