Cut Down Budget For Lawmakers, SERAP Calls

The rights group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on the National Assembly leadership to cut down the budget for lawmakers.

The group who is worried by the current economic realities in the country, requested President Bola Tinubu in a letter dated January 13, to present a fresh supplementary appropriation bill, which reflects the reduced National Assembly budget for the approval of the National Assembly.”

It would be recalled that the National Assembly had last December passed the 2024 Appropriation Bill, increasing the sum to ₦28.7 trillion from the initial ₦27.5 trillion presented by President Bola Tinubu in late November.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, were specifically urged by the group’s deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, to “promptly reduce the National Assembly budget of N344.85 billion, to reflect the current economic realities in the country, and cut the cost of governance.”

The National Assembly leadership is asked to “publish details of the National Assembly budget of N344.85bn, including the proposed spending details of the N3 billion budgeted for the House of Representatives Car Park and the N3 billion for the Senate Car Park as soon as possible.”

Oluwadare issued a warning, stating that there would be serious economic repercussions and the nation’s debt situation would worsen if the parliamentarians continued to arbitrarily boost their financial allocation.

“The unilateral and self-serving increase by the lawmakers of their allocation also offends the principles of separation of powers and checks and balances and the notion of the rule of law,” the letter read.

“The increase in the National Assembly budget has raised serious questions in the minds of the Nigerian people about how the lawmakers are spending their commonwealth.

“The National Assembly ought to be more responsible to the public interest and more responsive to it. The National Assembly has a constitutional responsibility to combat waste and abuse in its spending if it is to effectively exercise its oversight functions and hold the government to account.

“Transparency and accountability in public administration is an essential element of democracy. Transparency in the spending of the National Assembly budget would give the public a tool to hold the lawmakers accountable. It would also protect Nigerians from any potential abuses of governmental or legislative power that may exist.”