"Abandoned projects by new administration as a hydra-headed monster that has been bleeding Nigeria since it became independent" Onuesoke noted.
"Whenever a new government or administration comes into power, virtually all ongoing projects and programmes, no matter how laudable and people-oriented they are, often stopped and abandoned".
"Abandoned projects still remain a conduit pipe through which Nigerian resources are being wasted away without benefiting the people and the poor masses are made to suffer the consequences of such abandoned projects or policies".
With the increasing numbers of abandoned projects across the country by state governors, a leading chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Sunny Onuesoke has advised in-coming governors on the need to continue with the projects of their predecessors instead of abandoning them.
Onuesoke who spoke on the sideline during the Annual Lecture of Crime Reporters Association Of Nigeria (CRAN) at Sheraton Hotels and Towers Ikeja, Lagos, said it is not acceptable for any new government to discontinue or abandon projects, policies and programmes of an outgoing administration after billions of naira were spent on them.
The PDP Chieftain described abandoned projects by new administration as a hydra-headed monster that has been bleeding Nigeria since it became independent thus preventing the masses from enjoying maximum benefit from their taxes and the established infrastructure.
“This needs to be critically looked at. Whenever a new government or administration comes into power, virtually all ongoing projects and programmes, no matter how laudable and people-oriented they are, often stopped and abandoned,” he stated.
He argued that abandoned projects still remain a conduit pipe through which Nigerian resources are being wasted away without benefiting the people, adding that the poor masses are made to suffer the consequences of such abandoned projects or policies.
Onuesoke who pointed out that the country cannot move further with wastefully abandoning projects and programs merely on the basis of prejudice, selfish desire, inferiority complex and extravagance, advised that there is a need for laudable government projects, programs and policies to be backed and protected by the National or State Assemblies laws..
“These are the only ways a new administration would not be able to abandon them as they are backed by law,” he disclosed.
While agreeing that some of the outgoing governors initiate what could be called white elephant projects, he said the new man should not abandon such projects but complete them and have it to his credit that he completed it.
According to him, "Government is a continuum. You take over from where your predecessor stopped. Do you expect that the government should stop functioning just because the man on the seat is about to leave?"
He maintained that part of the problem of Nigeria is lack of continuity. "It is because we don't believe in continuity that is why we have so many abandoned projects even the ones that would have transformed our economy.
“It is not only in the states, even at the federal level, the new man should take over and continue the projects and policies of his predecessor especially where they are for public good."
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