ABUJA – The National Planning Commission (NPC) on Wednesday restated that it would monitor and evaluate projects executed by Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) under the 2014 budget.
Minister of National Planning, Dr Abubakar Suleiman, said this in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Suleiman told NAN that the exercise was part of the commission’s mandate and its contribution to Federal Government’s effort at curbing corruption and promotion of good governance in the country.
He explained that delay in carrying out the exercise was due to unavailability of funds but insisted that it must be carried out to ensure that executed projects measured up to appropriated figures.
“We want to go round the six geo-political zones. We may pick two states from each geo-political zone.
“We have some capital intensive projects that government sunk lots of money into. We want to see how far the funds have been utilized.
“I want to see whether the contractors executed the projects or not. Are the projects in line with the vision President Goodluck Jonathan? Are they in line with the Millennium Development Goals and the Vision 20:2020?
“Are Nigerians going to benefit from these projects? How much they have spent on them; does it tally with what is on ground? We have to measure and monitor all these,’’ the minister said.
According to him, the commission’s report from the exercise would go a long way in helping government in its future project execution activities.
“We are trying to make sure that Nigerians have value for their money and ensure that Nigerians reap the dividends of democracy.
“Again, it is a way of fighting corruption. For instance, a situation where N20 billion is budgeted for a project, we can estimate if what is on ground measures up to N20 billion,’’ he said.
The minister expressed optimism that the monitoring of the projects would be carried out before the end of the year, saying, “even if it remains one day for me to leave office that exercise will be carried out”.
He said, “I am committed to it; it is part of the mandate of the National Planning Commission. We are doing everything possible to carry it out.
“The teams that will undertake this exercise are already on ground. The modality for the exercise is already on ground.
“We have written to all the various MDAs to tell us the projects they have in the country.
“Out of the 12 leading ministries, departments, and agencies in the area of infrastructure, 10 have responded positively.’’
“By the time we get the money which we will get very soon, hopefully, we will commence the exercise,’’ Suleiman assured. (NAN
Commission to evaluate MDAs’ 2014 projects
Loading...
