The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas “to urgently refer allegations that ₦6.3 billion in constituency project funds may have been diverted, misapplied, or remain unaccounted for to the appropriate anti-corruption agencies for investigation and possible prosecution.”
SERAP urged Mr Akpabio and Mr Abbas “to ensure that anyone found responsible is prosecuted, where there is sufficient admissible evidence, and that any constituency project funds or other public funds found to have been diverted, or unaccounted for are fully recovered and remitted to the treasury.”
SERAP also called on them “to ensure the full disclosure of the names of the contractors and companies—including their shareholders and beneficial owners—that received constituency project funds but failed to execute the projects.”
The serious allegations are documented in the Auditor-General of the Federation’s 2022 annual report, published on 9 September 2025.
In a letter dated 27 June 2026 and signed by its deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP said: “The allegations that over ₦6.3 billion in constituency project funds may have been diverted suggest a grave violation of the public trust, the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended), and international standards.”
SERAP said, “Allegations of corruption in the spending of constituency project funds continue to undermine economic development, violate social justice, and destroy trust in political institutions, as well as lead to deficient public services.”
According to SERAP, “The National Assembly has a responsibility to curb allegations of corruption in constituency funds. But the body can only effectively perform its anti-corruption role if it can demonstrate exemplary leadership to probe the allegations of corruption involving the constituency projects approved by the lawmakers.”
The letter, read in part: “We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within 7 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel you and the National Assembly to comply with our request in the public interest.”
“The allegations involve several federal ministries, departments and agencies, including the Environmental Health Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON); the Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology, Volm; the Federal Polytechnic, Udana; the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP); and the National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS).”
“The Auditor-General identified numerous cases of payments into private bank accounts, contracts awarded without due process, payments for contracts not executed or services not rendered, undocumented expenditures, inflated contracts, procurement irregularities and failures to account for public funds, recommending in each case that the funds be recovered and remitted to the treasury.”
“According to the 2022 audited report, contained in pages 367 to 396, the Environmental Health Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON or Council) Abuja paid over ‘N22 million [N22,944,565.16] into the private account of some members of staff of the Council from the Constituency Projects Fund Account.”
“There ‘was no evidence of the utilization of the funds and no explanations on the purpose for the payment of such amount into the individual accounts.’”
“The Council also in 2021 ‘awarded suspicious consultancy contracts of over N12 million [N12,030,818.29] for the development of Modern Abattoirs in Kebbi State and the supervision of 7 projects in Kebbi, Jigawa, and Headquarters Abuja.’”
“The money was to ‘produce bills of quantity, architectural design, structural design, mechanical design, and electrical designs for the contracts and supervision.’ But ‘the ‘items could not be found.’”
“The Council ‘awarded contracts of over N404 million [N404,480,531.24] to companies without adequate registration profiles. Some companies ‘used two names, and used invalid Tax Clearance Certificates (TCC) to the payment vouchers of some of the contracts.’”
“The Council also ‘awarded contracts of over N103 million [N103,250,000.00] for capacity building without any documents.’ There ‘was no evidence that the three contractors who collected the money were involved in any capacity-building activity. The ‘names of the contractors were not on the banners and flyers of the events.’”
“The Council as reportedly ‘paid over N656 million [N656,295,589.44] for constituency and zonal intervention projects without any authorization.’”
“The Council in 2021 also paid ‘over N389 million [N389,613,540.00] to contractors to develop modern abattoirs, improve hygiene, and sanitation in meat handling at Argungu Market, Suru, Kebbi North.’ But ‘the contracts were never executed.’”
“The ‘pictures of the project used for the first contractor were the same used for the second contractor.’”
“The Council ‘awarded 12 contracts for over N563 million [N563,999,524.37] without any priced bill of engineering measurement.’ Most of ‘the contracts were awarded long before the consultancy contracts for their designs and drafts of their bills of quantity were awarded.’”