By 
The House of Representatives is preparing to convene a public hearing to garner stakeholders’ input on a Bill for an Act to establish the National Independent Project and Monitoring Agency to ensure transparency, accountability, monitoring and evaluation of projects across the country.
The bill, sponsored by the member representing Ahiazu/Mbaise/Ezinihitte Federal Constituency, Imo State, Chinedu Martins, seeks to ensure that Federal Government projects are up to standard and executed within a timely and budgetary timeframe.
When established, the agency will conduct independent oversight to eliminate collusion, reinforce accountability and significantly reduce the trend of abandoned projects.
The bill also seeks to identify inflated project costs early and ensure value for money, a move intended to save money for the country.
Speaking in Abuja on Thursday on the general principles of the proposed legislation, Martins said, “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 and implemented by contractors who are issued letters of award in accordance with the procedures outlined in the Public Procurement Act of 2007.
“However, the reality 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..
“The same MDAs that award these contracts are also the same MDAs responsible for monitoring the execution of the same projects.
“This arrangement is inherently defective. As the saying goes, you cannot be a judge in your 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.”
Given this governance challenge, the legislator said he came up with the bill for the establishment of NIPMA to serve as a statutory institution mandated to monitor, track and report on the implementation status of all federally funded projects across the country.
He added, “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 utilised transparently and judiciously.
“When infrastructure projects are properly implemented, they catalyse commerce, attract investment, and promote national development, thereby expanding the economy and reducing poverty.”
He noted that when established, the agency “Will not conflict with existing institutions such as the Bureau of Public Procurement or the Office of the Auditor-General. Rather, it will complement them by addressing the urgent need for real-time, on-the-ground monitoring of capital projects.”
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