- Projects with no clear locations
BY BONNY AMADI
MonitNG, a civic accountability organisation, has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to conduct a pre-emptive review of five National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) projects allocated a combined N3.05 billion in the 2025 Federal Government ERGP budget.
The organisation is demanding that NALDA disclose the exact locations and implementation status of the projects, arguing that the budget descriptions do not provide sufficient information for citizens, journalists, and oversight institutions to independently trace them.
According to MonitNG, a review of the five capital projects coded to NALDA shows that all the projects were classified as “NEW”, while their descriptions do not clearly specify the states, local government areas, communities, project sites or beneficiaries involved.
The five budget lines include N500 million for the construction of classroom blocks in farmers’ communities across the North-East and other parts of Nigeria.
Another N50 million was allocated for the training and empowerment of people affected by banditry, while N1.2 billion was earmarked for the provision of 2WD mini tractors and hand-held corn harvesters for farmers in “K/ Kuti and environs.”
The remaining allocations comprise N300 million for land clearing at NALDA horticulture clusters in “selected states and N1 billion for the construction of farm access roads in “selected cash crop clusters.”
MonitNG said the broad descriptions contained in the budget make it difficult to establish precisely where the projects are situated, the communities and beneficiaries targeted, the scope of work approved, and whether the projects have been implemented.
The organisation therefore urged NALDA to publish detailed information on each of the five projects, including their exact locations, implementation status, approved project timelines, number of beneficiaries, hectares involved where applicable, procurement details and amounts actually released.
MonitNG also called on the EFCC and ICPC to examine the five budget lines as part of a pre-emptive accountability review.
It said the review should establish the basis for the inclusion of the projects in the budget, whether supporting project registers exist, the procurement processes adopted, and the mechanisms put in place to monitor expenditure and implementation.
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