Hon Stanley Nwabuisi |
The legislator representing Ikwuano State Constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly, Hon. Stanley Nwabuisi, has lamented the current trend where legislators are assessed based on the quality and quantity of constituency projects they are able to execute despite the fact that constituency projects does not fall within their basic purview. There equally exist no budgetary allocation for such, he submitted
The lawmaker, during a virtual interactive session with the Abia Media Forum, AMF, a social media platform comprising top journalists and editors from Abia State described the trend as unfortunate as it constitutes a pressure and distraction for the legislator's constitutional responsibility of lawmaking.
He further added that unlike members of the National Assembly who have budget for Constituency Projects tagged 'Zonal Intervention Project', State legislators do not have any budget for constituency projects and have to source for funds to execute such projects.
"Our constituents begin to judge your performance based on the number of constituency projects you can do, its an unfortunate situation and the trend is not getting any better. If you are not seen to have executed any constituency project in your constituency, you are not seen as a performing legislator, and you can become very unpopular and may not be voted for in the next election.
"The reason for this is the failure if the Executive to provide the basic infrastructure that our people need. If the Executive, being the major financier of the budget are able to provide some of these infrastructure, then the pressure would not be so much on the legislators and they can concentrate on their basic functions of lawmaking, oversight functions and representation".
Nwabuisi, a member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), answering questions on projects executed by Abia State Government in his constituency dismissed the suggestion that government has not executed any project in his constituency, noting that the yet to be completed Ntalakwu-Oloko road is a major government project in the LG.
He nonetheless mentioned the Amawom--Ihim-Amuro-Nkalunta road and Ariam-Usaka Ring road as major projects the people of his constituency are earnestly yearning for to be executed.
Proffering his scorecard, Nwabuisi said he has contributed in making life more meaningful for the people of Ikwuano State Constituency, and amongst others, he has sponsored the training no fewer than 150 persons in aqua culture and heli culture; trained about 125 women in various vocational crafts; drilled water borehole at Nchara Oloko; reactivated the boreholes at Amaba-Oboro and Oboni-Upa-Usaka.
He has also extended scholarships to Ikwuano indigenes in secondary school and university, as well as facilitating employments for some in ABSU and MOUAU. He is also known to have paid medical bills, rents and provided welfare packages for some of his constituents in times of need.
Speaking on his second tenure ambition, Nwabuisi argued that he is seeking a second tenure to continue to give quality representation to Ikwuano people
The AMF periodically features leaders of note in every field at its virtual intetactive sessions, and had at various times interacted with Abia Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, Sen Sam Ohuabunwa, Hon. SamOnuigbo, and Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, among others.
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