Member of the House of Representatives, Obika Chinedu, has demanded that the burden of constituency projects be removed from lawmakers, calling the practice harmful to the legislature’s primary function.
In an exclusive interview, the Labour Party lawmaker representing Bwari/AMAC Federal Constituency stated, “The greatest harm that has been done to the legislative arm of government is this particular thing called constituency project. I hate it.”
Hon. Chinedu expressed concern that lawmakers have deviated from their core legislative duties to pursuing community projects. “People are no longer interested in lawmaking. Everybody is dragging how he can attract a road here or light there,” he lamented.
The lawmaker argued that constituency projects have turned legislators into executives and created unfair expectations. “People will look at a dedicated legislator and say ‘you have failed’ just because he cannot attract projects, possibly due to being in opposition,” he explained.
He revealed that the FCT has a N1.8 trillion budget for infrastructure this year, making additional constituency projects unnecessary. “We are not supposed to be going here and there doing this. That has rubbished legislation,” he concluded.
