Bowing to public pressure and apparently in desperate need of Nigerians’ goodwill, the leadership of the National Assembly, recently, released the breakdown of its 2017 budget.
The release, though belated, has also signaled an end to the questionable secrecy often associated with the budget of the National Assembly. For some pundits, the release of the budget is a fulfillment of a solemn promise made by the President of the Senate and Chairman of the National Assembly, Bukola Saraki, who in 2015, said he would make public, details of their budget.
But the Senate, in its usual penchant for cheap political points and media hype, made the disclosure a big issue. Front pages of national newspapers, radio stations and television screens were inundated with the release.
The budget ordinarily, is a public document. In sane climes, citizens have unfettered access to details of budgets of their national parliaments. But in Nigeria, we make headlines from inconsequential events.
Beyond the figures bandied around by the Senate and the House of Representatives, there are curious items listed in the budget. In the spirit of transparency, the Saraki-led National Assembly must answer salient questions, which are in desperate need of urgent answers.
According to the 31-page document, senators and members of the House of Representatives would spend N11.5 billion on travel and transport. In both chambers of the National Assembly, there are 469 lawmakers.
Unknown to many Nigerians, National Assembly members seldom spend budgeted funds on travels, especially during oversight functions. Instead, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), foot the ostentatious expenses of lawmakers.
Curious Nigerians need to ask the right questions and demand what the huge N11.5 billion will be expended on.
Last year, the presidency was ridiculed for budgeting over N2 billion for refreshment. Ironically, members of the National Assembly joined in the loud condemnation.
Sadly, the same ‘saints’ of the Red and Green Chamber have budgeted a commanding N1.3 billion for its own refreshment. Unlike the Presidential Villa, no member of the National Assembly resides within the four walls of the expansive building. Again, the right questions must be asked.
Many Nigerians can barely meet their basic needs. Hundreds of malnourished children give up the ghost in Boko Haram ravaged northeast. But lawmakers, elected to represent the people, care less.
There are two other curious items in the budget. First, the N6.6 billion earmarked for purchase of vehicles for lawmakers.
Whenever you present a superior argument, lawmakers are always in a hurry to blackmail you. They hurriedly remind you of billions of naira spent on vehicles by heads of MDAs. When it suits them, they quickly put on the toga of saints.
At the peak of the current biting economic recession, would Nigerians be asking for too much, by urging our hard working lawmakers to shelve the proposed purchase of new vehicles? Is it impossible to channel the funds into other viable areas that will directly impact Nigerians? We need to have this conversation.
The second poser is the logic behind the ridiculous N9.6 billion budgeted for payment of legislative aides. The openness or otherwise of the running of the National Assembly is incomplete without making public, the number of legislative aides attached to the 469 lawmakers in both chambers.
It’s public knowledge that the four presiding officers of the National Assembly, namely, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Deputy President of the Senate and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, have an army of idle aides. Interestingly, they are on the payroll of the National Assembly management.
The number of aides on the payroll of the National Assembly management is shrouded in secrecy. The public is kept in dark, regarding the number of aides expected to be paid from the suspicious N9.6 billion.
Like the unveiling of budget details, Nigerians must not relent yet. They must mount pressure on the management of the National Assembly to disclose the number of aides expected to benefit from the N9.6 billion largesse.
We may not get the desired responses today, but if we faint not, the truth will prevail soon. It’s a long walk to freedom and we cannot throw in the towel now.

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One more thing…
On Tuesday, senators from the Southeast geopolitical zone called Muhammadu Buhari’s bluff and vowed to frustrate the consideration of the President’s $5.8 billion China Exim Bank loan earmarked for the modernization of rail lines in the country.
Chairman of the South-East Senate Caucus, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, spearheaded the offensive, when he led other lawmakers of Igbo extraction to challenge the non-inclusion of the region in the rail modernization project.
Abaribe’s motion was a big success story. A clear message has been sent. By this daring move, folks from the Southeast are rest assured that their voices will be heard loud and clear in the Senate, whenever they feel marginalized.
The move will also serve as a clarion call to governors and serving government officials from the region to speak up for their people. This is your moment South easterners and you must not lose the momentum.