An APC lawmaker representing Kano North senatorial district, Senator Jibrin Barau, has proposed a bill to make it unlawful for a government to have abandoned projects in any part of the country.
The bill titled “Compulsory Development Planning and Project Continuity Bill, 2021 has scaled through second reading in the Senate on Wednesday.
According to Senator Barau, while delivering the bill to the Senate house explained that the bill will provide a sure remedy to the lack of a seamless developmental plan, adding that it will seek to make development planning compulsory for the tiers of the government.
Also, he said it will make provisions for each of the governments to organize and uphold project commission plans for projects within their region from the foundation to completion.
During the presentation, Barau explained that the noncompletion of projects and lack of continuity in government programs and policies are largely responsible for Nigeria’s lagging economic and infrastructural development.
Barau explained that government all over the world is continuum stating that ideally, once the baton of leadership of a nation is handed over to a new government, the onus lies on it to embrace the projects, policies, and programs of the previous administration without recourse to any person, party, or primitive involvements.
He said one major identifiable draw-backs to social, economic, and infrastructural development in Nigeria is the lack of continuity of policies and programs of government at the Federal, State, and Local Government.
According to him, the State resources are poorly managed as some political leaders often embark on white elephant projects that cannot endure the test of time at the end of their tenures.
He stated that the unfortunate tradition has badly characterized governance and induced corruption since 1999.
Barau recalled to the lawmakers that as of June 2011, Architect Ibrahim Bunu, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory who led the Presidential Projects Assessment committee reported that there are 11,886 abandoned projects in Nigeria both in the federal and state levels of government and suggested the completion cost be N7. 78 trillion.
Barau stated that the committee revealed that political and personal relations surpassed the national interest in the award of contracts.
He also explained how the committee had stated that the majority of the contracts were procurement driven rather than development driven.
Describing the situation, Barau said with this ugly political trend and worrisome disposition of some politicians, the nation is utterly consigned to retrogression if not urgently checked.
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