Nigeria, Jan. 18 -- In 2019, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) released a report on how federal lawmakers, in connivance with executing agencies, have perfected fraudulent means of pocketing billions of naira under the guise of constituency projects.

The report fingered Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA), two agencies described as "conduits for embezzling funds" by federal lawmakers because of the size, type and number of projects domiciled under them.

Independent checks by PREMIUM TIMES, in the penultimate year, affirmed this: over 391 projects were smuggled by federal lawmakers into the budgets of the two agenc...