NATIONAL LAWMAKERS DISAGREE WITH FG OVER CUTS IN THEIR ALLOCATIONS

Members of the National Assembly are unhappy with the cuts in their allocations from #150bn to #120bn in the 2016 budget. It was learnt that in the 2016 budget proposal placed before the lawmakers by President Muhammadu Buhari, another #5bn has been cut again from the allocation leaving the sum of N115bn for the legislature.
Some of the senators expressed concerns that reducing N5bn from the usual N120bn budget of the federal parliament would affect the running of the legislature.

Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, said the document submitted to the National Assembly by the Presiden is but only a proposal which would be critically examined by the federal lawmakers and if it is found "after a careful examination of the breakdown, it will have a negative effect on " some critical aspects of legislation, especially our oversight functions, which is very critical to democracy, we might take a second look at it.”

Members of the House of Representatives, specifically, had expressed reservations that the cuts could weaken the Federal Government’s anti-corruption war, as the key institutions to strengthen the war were being starved of funds, pointing out that fighting corruption meant that more cases would have to be prosecuted in 2016 in the courts.

“National Assembly faces the same challenge; from N150bn to under N120bn. There are laws that need to be passed to strengthen the anti-corruption agencies and others.

The Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, said Nigerians have a wrong impression that the N120bn approved in 2015 for the National Assembly was shared among the 469 lawmakers in the federal legislature.

He said, “People forget that National Assembly is not just about the 360 Reps and 109 senators. There is the bureaucracy of the National Assembly – the National Assembly Service Commission, the National Institute of Legislative Studies and the National Assembly Budget and Research Office; all will draw from the same figure.”

A senator from the South-South geopolitical zone, who is a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriation said categorically that the federal parliament would reject the proposal.

About the cut in the judiciary allocations too,the lawmaker said, “You will require the support of the judiciary to sustain the war and succeed eventually. Now, what we see is that the budget of the same judiciary has been reduced by over N3bn. So, how will the judges work? “The implication is that these other arms are being weakened by the executive, while the budget of the executive keeps increasing."

But fail to mention the fact that the Senate would spend at least N4.7bn on new luxury cars, while the House would also buy exotic cars for its members for at least N4bn out of the budget.

Though the lawmakers admitted that cuts in budget were necessary in view of the challenging economic situation of the country, they argued that such cuts should target the Executive more and not the National Assembly or the judiciary.

A senior lawmaker  said  this year alone , "the executive alone spent N4tn; next year, they will spend about N6tn because when you look at the entire budget, National Assembly’s share is about two per cent.” 

It would be recalled that Nigerians had consistently criticised the N150bn budget as too big for the legislature.