By Jane osamor
For the people of Sokoto East Senatorial District, the 2023 Budget was not their friend. The Senatorial District came out not only with the lowest constituency project allocation in the budget but also with the lowest valued.
Sokoto East has only one project captured in the budget at a miserly cost of N50,000. Yet Sokoto East has a population of 2,558,200 people.
This information and other are contained in the Phase Five project-tracking report of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other offences Commission (ICPC).
The report showed a glaring lopsidedness in the distribution of projects across all the states of the federation.
The ICPC report showed that Principal Officers and some top ranking officers of the two Chambers of the National Assembly have projects lopsidedly shared in their favour.
Compare Sokoto East’s predicament to that of Delta Central Senatorial District and Yobe North Senatorial District. Then Delta Central Senatorial District was represented by Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, who was the Deputy Senate President while Yobe North was represented by Dr Ahmad Lawan, Senate President when the report was compiled.
Yobe North has a total of 32 projects captured in the budget, joint first with Kebbi North Senatorial District. The total value of projects for Yobe North was N2.476 billion while that of Kebbi North was N2.849 billion.
Omo-Agege’s Delta Central has the highest project value captured in the budget as its 25 Projects were valued at N10.924 billion.
Yet all the three Senatorial Districts mentioned above have lesser population than Sokoto East. Delta Central has a population of 1,957,600 people; Kebbi North has a population of 2,113,200 people; while Yobe North has 1,258,100 people.
Apart from Sokoto East, other Senatorial Districts with one project captured in the 2023 budget are: Benue North West with project value of N20 million and population of 2,210,600 people; Niger North with project value of N25 million and population of 2,120,800; Ogun West with project value of N32 million and population of 1,892,600; Jigawa North West with project value of N100 million and population of 2,838,800; and Borno North with a project value of N200 million and population of 2,597,100.
And apart from Delta Central, Kebbi North and Yobe North, other Senatorial Districts with high projects captured in the budget include: Niger East with 31 projects valued at N4.725 billion; FCT with 17 projects valued at N4.5 billion; Gombe Central with 13 projects valued at N4.725 billion; Anambra North with 18 projects valued at N1.457 billion; Abia North with 18 projects valued at N2.550 billion; and Yobe East with 15 projects valued at N2.930 billion among others.
“Principal officers use their positions to appropriate resources to their Senatorial Districts at the expense of others,” the report said.
The report also stated that, “the appropriated funds are hardly properly applied for the benefit of their constituents”.
