The House of Representatives has passed through second reading, a bill for an act to establish the National Independent Project and Monitoring Agency (NIPMA) to ensure transparency, accountability, and effective monitoring and evaluation of public projects in the country.

Sponsored by Hon. Chinedu Emeka Martins, the proposed legislation intends to ensure that that projects are executed to standard within the budget and stipulated timeframes.

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

The proposed legislation also seek 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.

“However, Mr. Speaker and Honourable Colleagues, 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..

“Mr. Speaker and Honourable Colleagues, you will agree with me that 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 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 it is in response to such glaring governance vacuum that he is sponsoring the bill for the establishment NIPMA to serve as a statutory institution solely mandated to monitor, track and report on the implementation status of all federally 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 utilized.

“When infrastructure projects are properly implemented, they catalyze commerce, attract investment, and promote national development, thereby expanding the economy and reducing poverty.

“Mr. Speaker and Honourable Colleagues, should this Bill be passed into law, the National Independent Project Monitoring 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.

“This Bill is timely, necessary, and ultimately in the best interest of the Nigerian people.Therefore, I respectfully urge this Honourable House to lend its full support to this vital legislative proposal to be allowed be read the second time, to ensure that resources appropriated by this House genuinely serve the people of Nigeria,” he added.