Joe Effiong, Uyo

An anti-corruption crusader known as the Social Anti-Corruption Network has alleged that 70 per cent of government projects in Akwa Ibom State have been abandoned due to corruption.

A statement issued by the state coordinator of the group, Mrs. Ann Udonte, and made available to Daily Sun, on Monday, also blamed the incidence of abandoned projects on lack of procurement law, which, it said, has resulted in shabby contracting leading to non-implementation of projects.

The organisation also lamented that “despite the frantic effort by the government to tackle corruption, the 2017 corruption Perception Report Index scored Nigeria low when compared with the 2016 perception report.”

It called on the state government “to put in place mechanism to institutionalise accountability in all its operations.

The NGO lamented that the increasing incidence of abandoned projects across the country has deprived the citizens the benefits of the trillions of naira budgeted yearly for development, even as it said the while the citizens are so deprived, some person who are politically exposed use the opportunity to drain the nation’s resources.

It demanded that the, “state government should make governance and public project contracting as transparent as possible.

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“We also demand citizens’ participation in budgeting process as this will help the promoting inclusive development and accountability.

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“An oversight committee comprising  state and CBOs representatives should be established across the states toward ensuring budget compliance to ensure social accountability on need assessment budgeting and implementation.

“All relevant stakeholders should be involved from the beginning of project planning process to give all fair understanding of and a sense of ownership to trigger implementation success to publicly funded projects,” the group said.

The NGO further recommended among other things that, anti-corruption campaigns should be intensified, citizens participation in budget planning and implementation, anti corruption ambassadors should be raised, less influence on the oil and gas sector, oversight committee on government projects to include CSOs, relevant stakeholders involvement in budget planning and implementation and adoption of Open Governance Partnership (OGP).

But the state government has described the group’s accusation as ‘outright falsehood’ aimed at tarnishing the image of government.

Commissioner for Information and Strategy in the state, Mr. Charles Udoh, in reacting to the allegation, said the projects dotting the landscape of the state area projects which had been completed.

“So, we are challenging the group to show us the projects they claimed have been abandoned.

“Are they schools? Are they the industries that we have brought back?

“It is pure falsehood and figment of imagination of some people who are bent on trying to discredit the government,” Udoh said.