In what seems to be a normal practice among the Nigerian Federal Lawmakers to hide under the cover of constituency project and insert money into the National Budget, Mr. Dino Melaye, despite failing to account for how the 2017 constituency projects fund he nominated was expended, has inserted another N409 million in the current 2018 Budget.
Under the new deal, Dino said N45 million will be used for construction of community town hall at Ijumu Local Government Area of kogi state, a local government in his constituency.
In another arrangement, Dino claimed N90 million will be expended for the construction of classroom blocks across six communities in his constituency.
This is coming even as the senator has refused to account for how the 2017 constituency project funds he nominated were utilized, with some community members accusing him of not carrying out community intervention projects.
Tracka, an organization monitoring community intervention projects and creating awareness among the citizens to ensure transparency and accountability, has asked Dino Melaye, a Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial district to account for 19.7 million he claimed was used for Borehole construction.
A request Dino has refused to honour, worse still, he has gone ahead to insert another N409 million into the current 2018 National Budget.
We have followed how Tracka has made efforts to get Dino to account for constituency projects he nominated in 2017, a request Dino has refused to respond to.
Dino is not the only offender, virtually all the Nigerian Federal Lawmakers who nominated constituency projects in 2017 have not been able yo account for the funds given for that purpose.
Those who made effort to respond to accountability questions asked by Tracka, referred them to Ministry Department and Agencies (MDAs) with the claim that the funds were given to MDAs.
This has become a practice many Nigerians view as a carefully hatched plan by Lawmakers to divert public funds using constituency projects as a cover.
Credit: West Africa Reporters
