Senators, Reps Disagree Over Claim NASS Is Broke

The Spokesman of the Senate, Senator Ajibola Basiru (APC, Osun Central) has denied reports in sections of the media claiming that the National Assembly is broke.

In a chat with THE WHISTLER, Senator Basiru said the Upper Chamber is not affected by the recent allegation of bankruptcy, insisting that “the Senate is carrying out its statutory functions and there’s been no complaint from the Upper Chamber.”

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He challenged those claiming that the Red Chamber is broke to provide evidence to back up their allegation, as he insisted that the 2021 budget of the legislature has been the highest in recent time.

A senior official in the National Assembly Service Commission who spoke to THE WHISTLER on condition of anonymity also debunked allegations that the staggered plenary by NASS is as a result of paucity of funds.

He said, “it is not true that the staggered plenary is because the National Assembly is broke. They are only taking precautionary measures because of Covid-19.”

However, and contrary to Senator Basiru’s claims, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu, in a recent press conference announced to the world that “ The House is broke. I have said it before and I am saying it again, and I am not afraid to say it. The House is broke and it is afraid to appropriate the sufficient amount for them to do their job. The House is broke and is afraid of your complaints as Nigerians to make provision for what will make them run the activities of the House effectively.
That is why today, here is hot; that is why the hearing rooms are not fixed; that is why the House is indebted to contractors who provide one form of service or the other. This is a fact.

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“Until Nigerians believe that the appropriation that was made for the running of the National Assembly, which happened when naira was N160 to the dollar, is less now than what it used to be. The dollar equivalent of naira today has gone up to over N400. The purchasing power of the budget as it is now is weaker than it was 10 years ago.

“The budget of the National Assembly is supposed to be reviewed, because of its purchasing ability, of the services that will help the parliament to move forward. At the moment, it is a weak budget and that is the truth.

” We appropriate for agencies to run effectively, yet we are in penury for our constitutional mandate. It is a disservice to Nigerians; the poor budget of the parliament is a disservice to Nigerians.”

Similarly, a highly placed source in the Finance Directorate of the Senate corroborated Kalu’s position.

The source said that “the situation is the reason why many standing committees of the Senate did not hold public hearing since they were constituted.”

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He however added that funds were recently released to the Finance Directorate and “very soon, perhaps, starting next week, some of the committees would begin to hold a public hearing.”

The source was silent on whether the new tranch of funds released to the National Assembly to enable it to hold public hearings was the balance from what was due to it in the 2021 budget.

The Federal Government had earmarked N128 billion for the National Assembly in the 2020 budget, sparking a nationwide controversy with the Socio-Economic Rights And Accountability Project (SERAP) describing the National Assembly budget as a ‘travesty.

SERAP also tasked the legislators “to urgently push to cut the N128bn budget for the National Assembly in 2021.”

But barely five months after the President earmarked the sum to the National Assembly, the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, raised the alarm that the complex was broke.

The National Assembly had a budget of N139.5bn in 2018, N125bn in 2019 and N128bn (N125bn proposed, N3bn added) in 2020.

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While the sum of N125bn was proposed for the National Assembly in 2021, the sum of N134bn was approved for it and all other affiliates such as the National Assembly Service Commission, National Legislative Institute among others.

The spending plan is about 21% rise from the revised 2020 spending plan of 10.8 trillion naira. The budget assumes crude production of 1.86 million barrels a day and an oil price of $40 per barrel with the exchange rate at N379 to $1, Buhari said.

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