Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has denied allegation of inclusion of constituency projects in its 2019 budget.
In a statement issued by spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ferdinand Nwonye, said investigation by the ministry revealed that unknown to it, Zonal Intervention Projects allocated to members of the National Assembly (NASS) as constituency projects to the tune of N2.9 billion was earmarked by the National Assembly for execution by the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution (ICPR), an agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, has frowned at the inclusion of the sum.
“It is important to note that this amount is not reflected in the 2019 Appropriation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and never came to the attention of the Ministry,” Nwonye said.