By KADIRI ABDULRAHMAN

The Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) is set to begin physical verification of selected Federal Government capital projects valued N2.9 trillion across the six geo-political zones of the country.

Executive Chairman of the commission, Victor Muruako, made this known in a statement by Bede Anyanwu, Head, Strategic Communication Directorate in Abuja on Saturday.

Muruako enjoined the officials that will be going for the exercise to carry out the assignments with great diligence and a sense of purpose as the exercise is one of the core mandates of the commission.

“Ensure that you verify the actual existence of the projects as well as monitor the progress of the work done so far.

“The verification exercise is further designed to give a fillip to President Bola Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda in the area of prudence, value-for-money and transparency.

“The effort is to meet the yearnings of the people,” he said.

The chairman said that the verification must also be done within the ambit of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

According to him, the reason for this verification exercise is to ensure that the government embarks on projects that it can fund.

He said that the verification exercise is also to determine projects that need funding in line with the completion targets.

“With the MTEF cases of abandoned projects will cease to exist.

“The aim is to reduce approvals for new capital projects for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), where the existing indebtedness to contractors is in billions of Naira, to barest minimum,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some of the projects earmarked for verification include rehabilitation of Bende – Arochukwu – Ohafia Road, and the dualisation of Sapele-Ewu Road in Delta.

Others include the dualisation of Lagos-Otta road in Lagos State, and the construction of NDLEA Zonal (Area) Command in Igumale, Ado/Okpokwu, Benue, among others. (NAN)

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