Busted: Ibn Na’Allah, Senate Deputy Leader, Diverts Community Borehole Project To Residence
MICHAEL AKINOLA
In its effort at monitoring the social and economic development in the country, BudgIT’s Tracka Team has uncovered how deputy senate leader, Bala Ibn Na’Allah diverted one of the constituency projects to personal use in his Zuru, Kebbi State homestead.
According to Tracka, its project-tracking officer in June received a call from Zuru community members informing him of a motorised borehole constructed in the premise of Senator Ibn Na’Allah Bala’s residence.
It was gathered that the facility was supposed to be for the benefit of the entire community to put an end to water scarcity.
The community members expressed dissatisfaction over the conversion of the public property into personal use, thus depriving the residents of Zuru community access to potable water supply.
Tracka was established to address the critical issues with social and economic development in the country, such as the exclusion of citizens from developmental projects, the increasing number of abandoned projects, and poor execution of the few implemented projects.
The team had visited Kebbi South senatorial district, during which it observed that a number of projects were captured in the 2016 federal constituency projects.
The tracked projects include:
-Complete renovation of Zuru Town Hall for N155 million
-Supply of eight (8) Toyota Hiace ambulances for Zuru, Yauri, Dankwo/Wasagu, Shanga, Sakaba, Fakai and Ngaski for N160million
-Provision of 71 motorised boreholes in each of the 71 wards in Kebbi South for N710million
-Provision of 41 hand pump boreholes in 41 wards of Zuru/Fakai/Sakaba/danko-Wasagu for N61.5million.
It was learnt that in October 2016, the Tracka Team held a community engagement meeting with residents and the Zuru Emirate Development Association (ZEYA) to provide them with relevant information on the line items in the budget and encourage them to ensure project delivery through active participation.
The community leaders then wrote a letter to their representative, Senator Bala Ibn Na’allah, and the relevant ministries, requesting an update on the implementation of the projects.
In December 2016, youth leader, Nuhu Hussaini informed the Tracka field officer that the renovation of the Zuru Town Hall had begun and that one Toyota ambulance vehicle had been delivered to Yauri General Hospital.
The provision of 71 motorised boreholes had also started in the selected wards in Kebbi South Senatorial District.
While the team ensured a follow-up with all the project implementations and observed that some of the empowerment materials purchased were labelled as donations e.g. the boat and ambulance by the Senator, the residents however expressed displeasure to the team on the N155 million cost of the Zuru Town Hall renovation, which they considered a misplaced priority.
According to the youth, there are more pressing needs that will sustain the youth in the community.
They cited an example that if the N155 million was invested in agriculture as the state is known as one of the largest producers of rice, the unemployment rate in their community would significantly reduce and the living standard of the people will be improved.
Senator Ibn Na’Allah could not be reached to react to the allegations.
