On June 11, 2020, Senator Bulus K. Amos marks 365 days in office, having been sworn-in on the same day in 2019. As part of low-key activities marking the one year anniversary as a result of the COVID 19 Pandemic, we present his scorecard and attempt to juxtapose it with his campaign promises for public scrutiny.
Election manifesto is a document containing campaign promises or service compact with the electorate. In his compact document with the good people of Gombe South (Election Manifesto), Sen BK Amos made it clear that he is in politics to liberate the zone from decades of deprivation and underdevelopment.
In the opening paragraph of his 9-point manifesto with 15 performance targets, he said: “if elected Senator, I will represent a party that stands for fairness, equality, opportunity and justice….. I will put people first before politics. I will stand with the people of Gombe South and defend their interests at all times.
“In the spirit of equity, fairness and justice, my official and personal aides (PAs) will cut across the 4 LGAs of Gombe South to reflect our diversity”.
To demonstrate that he is indeed a promise keeper, a man of his words and politician with a difference, Sen BK Amos has broken all-time records by appointing 118 SAs and PAs across the 4 LGAs that make up Gombe South Senatorial District.
“A promise keeper builds self-confidence and adds value to his or her worth. Even in privacy, he or she feels dignified. The public sees such a person as a role model who fears God because God is the ultimate promise keeper”.
For Senator BK Amos, he needs to keep his promises for four reasons in descending order:
- He keeps campaign promises for the benefit of his people.
- He keeps promises for the purpose of his name/integrity.
- He also keeps promises for posterity’s sake.
- And least of all, he keeps campaign promises for the people to trust him enough, and consider him for re-election.
BILLS AND MOTIONS
The primary role of parliamentarians is lawmaking. Through Bills, they can attract federal presence by way of establishment of federal agencies or institutions of higher learning in their constituency. This is one of Sen BK Amos campaign promises as contained on page 4 of his election manifesto document.
According to him, “If elected Senator I will sponsor Bills to attract federal institutions to Gombe South”. This is succinctly captured in his Target 2A where he stated:
“I will sponsor a Bill and lobby my colleagues to support an act for the establishment of a Federal Polytechnic in Gombe State to be cited in our Zone”. With the establishment of Federal Polytechnic, Kaltungo before our campaign got underway, Sen BK Amos dusted his plan B and presented two Bills for the establishment of Federal College of Agriculture, Bambam and Federal Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Billiri.
We are glad to report to the good people of Gombe South that, the Bill for the establishment of Federal College of Agriculture is at the committee level, awaiting public hearing having passed through second reading, while the Bill on the establishment of Institute of Information and Communication Technology is awaiting second reading.
In addition to the above Bills, Sen BK Amos has lent his voice to a number of debates on issues of urgent national importance on the floor of the Senate. One of such is his historic contributions on how network providers are frustrating efforts of security agencies to track down criminal kidnappers and bandits. He condemned the sale of unregistered SIM cards as well as hoax registration by network providers where some Sim cards bear animal names and therefore cannot be traced to anyone.
Contributing to the proposed Bill to check the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria, Sen (Col) BK Amos identified a lack of political will as a major reason why the illicit trade thrives, as relevant government agencies have data of notorious gunrunners but are constrained.
SECURITY, EDUCATION, INFRASTRUCTURE & COMMUNITY SERVICE
In Gombe South Senatorial District, communal clashes are one of the major causes of insecurity in the area. Throughout his electioneering campaign, Sen BK Amos has consistently promised to initiate steps to guarantee peaceful coexistence amongst the various ethnic groups in the Zone.
Consequently, on June 15, 2019 during the Thanksgiving dinner to mark his official inauguration as Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria held at Kaltungo Stadium, he announced the introduction of an Annual Peace Carnival as one of the measures to cement existing communal relations, build more bridges of peace and eliminate mutual suspicion and mistrust amongst the people.
Due to his body language and dogged commitment to peaceful coexistence, and overwhelming support of the Royal Fathers as well as religious and opinion leaders, Tangale- Waja has not witnessed any communal clashes since his assumption of office on June 11, 2019.
The first edition of the carnival billed to hold June 2020, in Billiri has since been suspended due to the outbreak of the dreaded Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19).
In keeping with his campaign promises of supporting and promoting the educational development of the Zone, Sen BK Amos has commenced the first leg of his tertiary education program by making available 500 JAMB scratch cards to the most vulnerable youths in the Zone to enhance more access to university education.
In an unprecedented bid to support the power sector to improve electricity generation and distribution in Gombe State, Sen BK Amos has acquired and installed an electricity transformer in Kwarge, a Cham community in Balanga LGA to enhance economic and social activities in the area.
Recently, in collaboration with the National Body of Tangale Waja Students Association (TAWASA) and Coalition of Tangale Waja Youths & Students Associations, Sen BK Amos has sponsored the production and distribution of over 5,000 customized hand-sanitizers, to help curb the spread of COVID 19 in Gombe South Senatorial District.
DEMYSTIFYING THE CONCEPT OF CONSTITUENCY PROJECTS
In response to the yearnings of their constituents for federal presence, the National Assembly demanded for the inclusion of the Constituency Project Fund in the National budget. The concept aimed at achieving even development through the intervention of elected representatives in the legislature.
Since the inception of the Constituency Project, there has been a misconception of it’s management and administration. This development has pitched constituents against their representatives.
Constituency projects are Zonal Intervention Projects (ZIP) identified by Lawmakers for execution in their constituency for the benefit of their constituents. These are classified as health, infrastructure or educational projects. It also includes empowerment projects such as the distribution of motorcycles, Keke NAPEP, sewing or grinding machines etc.
Contrary to the misconception that constituency funds are released directly to Lawmakers for the execution of Zonal Intervention Projects, Lawmakers only identify areas of needs of their constituents and recommend the inclusion of such projects in the appropriation act.
While the Projects are recommended by the Legislators, the budget and funding are domiciled with relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), which in turn, oversee implementations. The execution of the projects on the other hand, is handled by contractors with the supervision of relevant government agencies.
An independent study conducted by Udefuna, P.N. and 2 others, titled “Legislative Constituency Project in Nigeria: Implications for National Development”, agreed with the above submission. The report reads in part:
“Members of the National Assembly merely identify the needs of their constituency and recommend the same to the executive during budgeting. They have no direct control over their implementation; hence the award, financing and supervision of Constituency Projects are the preserves of appropriate agencies other than the National Assembly”.
Another misconception is that budget appropriation equals releases. This is the belief that the government releases budgeted funds 100%. For instance, it was reported last year that over N1Trillion was spent on constituency projects in the last 10years without corresponding impact. But the deeper analysis will tell you that not more than N400 Billion, representing 40% may have been released.
Recently, the social media has been agog with figures of millions of naira appropriated for Constituency Projects in Gombe South in the 2020 budget.
Hence, our friends from the other divide have been asking us to showcase our Constituency projects in Gombe South in the last one year. Due to economic meltdown occasioned by the outbreak of the dreaded Coronavirus Disease COVID-19, no releases have been made yet in respect of Constituency projects in 2020 physical year.
With the launch of “My Constituency, My Project” campaign by ICPC, citizens are invited to track and monitor constituency projects and other government interventions in their domain and ask informed questions.
WHAT LEADS TO BROKEN CAMPAIGN PROMISES
One of the widely held notions in political circles is the belief that, “Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build bridges even when there are no rivers”. In Nigeria for instance, because of our experiences over the years where politicians ‘promise heaven before an election and give electorate hell after’, no explanation would assuage them when a politician fails to deliver on campaign promises.
One of the reasons why most politicians find it difficult to keep their promises is that, they May not have all the facts before making those promises during the campaign. They rush into making promises without taking into consideration some variables. They may not know of all the limitations to being able to keep those promises. And so when faced with the reality and dynamics of governance, they cannot meet up.
Again, socio-economic situations can change suddenly during a politician’s term in office. A good example is the current global economic downturn occasioned by the sudden outbreak of COVID 19 pandemic. Nigeria has had it’s own share with over 13,000 infections and over 350 deaths in a span of One Hundred days.
If the above scenario occurs, the politician should carry his people along. In explaining, WHAT is said counts for about 20%, but HOW it is said counts for the remaining 80%. Yes. Your approach matters because people are already disappointed. One must not make fresh promises to cover up the last disappointment because if it fails again, you lose your integrity.
In our case, one year in the life of a 4-year tenure is too early to judge whether promises are broken or not. But I must quickly say that the outbreak of COVID 19 has greatly affected the implementation of the 2020 budget. Budgeted resources have been diverted to unbudgeted control, management and treatment of the novel disease. The year is already halfway with no releases yet for Constituency projects captured in the 2020 appreciation act.
In the area of employment, we may not be able to achieve an appreciable result for the year 2020. This is because the government has placed a temporary embargo on employment due to dwindling revenue occasioned by this global pandemic.
We invite all Gombe Southerners of Goodwill to continue to pray for Nigeria to get over and recover soonest from the ravaging COVID 19 pandemic, so that the country returns to normalcy to deliver dividends of democracy to Nigerians.
Mr Lauya is Senior Special Assistant (Media & Publicity) to the Distinguished Senator Bulus K. Amos, Gombe South Senatorial District.
