Worried by the preponderance of abandoned and substandard projects in the country, the House of Representatives has initiated a bill for an act to establish the National Independent Project and Monitoring Agency (NIPMA).

The agency is being conceived to ensure transparency, accountability, and effective monitoring and evaluation of public projects in the country.

Sponsored by Hon. Chinedu Emeka Martins, the proposed legislation which passed second reading, seeks to ensure that projects are executed to standard within the budget and stipulated timeframes.

When established, the agency will conduct independent oversight to eliminate collusion, reinforce accountability and significantly reduce the trend of abandoned projects.

The proposed legislation also seeks to detect inflated project costs early and ensure value for money, saving the nation billions of Naira annually through effective monitoring.

In a lead debate on the general principles of the bill, the sponsor, Hon. Chinedu noted that while each year, the National Assembly appropriates trillions of Naira for capital projects, the results are disheartening.

?You will agree with me that, year after year, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria presents an Appropriation Bill to this Honourable House, detailing capital expenditures running into trillions of naira for the execution of developmental projects across the country.

?These projects are domiciled in various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) and implemented by contractors who are issued letters of award in accordance with the procedures outlined in the Public Procurement Act of 2007.?

Chinedu said the reality on ground paints a distressing picture across the country, ?we encounter the scars of abandoned, substandard, or poorly executed projects by MDAs.

?This is not only wasteful; it is unacceptable. One of the major contributors to this failure is the absence of an independent, transparent, and credible monitoring system in the execution of projects by MDAs.?

He lamented that the same MDAs that award the contracts are also the same responsible for their monitoring the execution.

?This arrangement is inherently defective. As the saying goes, you cannot be a judge in your own case. This model of self-supervision breeds inefficiency, fosters compromise, and enables contractors to cut corners, which is a major reason for the numerous abandoned projects, while billions of naira remain unaccounted for,? he said.

The lawmaker said the bill was in response to glaring governance to serve as a statutory institution solely mandated to monitor, track and report on the implementation status of all federal government funded projects across the country.

?The advantages of this bill are far-reaching, With NIPMA in place, we can ensure that projects are executed to standard, within budget, and within stipulated timeframes. Independent oversight will eliminate collusion, reinforce accountability, and significantly reduce the trend of abandoned projects.

?The establishment of the agency will generate employment opportunities for engineers, auditors, quantity surveyors, data analysts, and other professionals. It will also stimulate local economies in project-hosting communities.

?Effective monitoring will detect inflated project costs early and ensure value for money, saving the nation billions of naira annually.

?Citizens will regain trust in government when they see that public funds are being transparently and judiciously utilised,? he said.

Chinedu said when infrastructure projects are properly implemented, they catalyse commerce, attract investment, and promote national development, thereby expanding the economy and reducing poverty.

Should this bill be passed into law, the lawmaker said it will not conflict with existing institutions such as the Bureau of Public Procurement or the Office of the Auditor-General.

Rather, he said it will complement them by addressing the urgent need for real-time, on-the-ground monitoring of capital projects. (LEADERSHIP)

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