Executive Director of Enough is Enough (EIE) Nigeria, Opeyemi Adamolekun, has criticised the trend of Nigerian lawmakers taking undue credit for constituency projects funded by public money.
On Monday, on Newscentral’s Jasiri, Adamolekun highlighted the misleading practice of politicians branding government-funded projects as personal contributions, calling it “absolute nonsense.”
She recalled past instances where members of the National Assembly placed their names on projects funded by taxpayers.
“One of the challenges was that National Assembly members, when given constituency allowances, would put these projects up and then say ‘provided by,’” she said. “But if it’s not actually funded by you, it’s not provided by you.”
She noted that Enough is Enough Nigeria had previously taken action against such cases, including one involving House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila.
“I had to sue him, actually, because the Unilag hostel that was donated has his name on it. I think there’s a hostel and a hospital that have his name on both of them, and we’ve just been busy, but we do plan to sue,” she explained.
In response to growing scrutiny, some lawmakers have started using terms like “supported” or “facilitated” instead of falsely claiming full credit.
Adamolekun emphasised that while it’s acceptable for a legislator to highlight their role in ensuring a project gets implemented, outright claiming ownership is dishonest.
“If you want to take credit with a nice signboard that you did the job you were paid to do, fine, make yourself happy,” she said. “But you cannot say that you provided or donated it. Completely unacceptable.”
Adamolekun also criticised leaders naming public infrastructure after themselves while in office and called for an end to self-glorification through public infrastructure.
