Suspends proposed N37bn complex
By Farouk Mohammed
Strong indications emerged Thursday night that the
federal government has slashed 2020 of the National Assembly (NASS) budget to
N25.6 billion.
The amount represents 20 per cent of the N128
billion approved for the National Assembly for this fiscal year. It will be
recalled that the approved 2020 budget for the Federal Government was N10.3tr
budget. But it had been reduced to N8trn due to the outbreak of the coronavirus
pandemic which had affected the international oil prices.
The
government had benchmark oil sales per barrel of crude oil to $57 but the price
is now hovering between 20 and 25 dollars. In light of the situation, there is
now an understanding that the budget of Executive, Judiciary and Legislature
budgets would be slashed by 20 per cent. The House Chief Whip, Muhammad Tahir
Monguno (APC, Borno) has confirmed that the National Assembly’s budget would be
slashed by 20 per cent. He also stated that the N37 billion proposed for the
renovation of the National Assembly complex had been suspended. According to
him, it will be a misplaced priority to talk about spending such money on the
renovation of a building, stressing that only priority spendings will be
tolerated. He said: “It was decided that the budget would be slashed by 20 per
cent across the board. No discrimination between the Executive, Judiciary and
the Legislature. We now have to decide from which areas we will reduce our
proposals. “The reviewed budget will now be presented for passage. We are ready
to receive it from the executive even in this lockdown. We are waiting; if they
bring it, we will reconvene. “There is a very big problem, our economy is going
down, there is a need for everybody to make a sacrifice. We have to forgo many
things proposed in our budget. “I know that the minister of finance said the
purchase of computers, office furniture and purchase of vehicles and some other
line items would be removed from the budget of the executive. “For me, even if
it is brought back, I will call for its suspension. The money should be taken
and used elsewhere to benefit Nigerians. We should manage what we will be able
to get until things get better. “It will be very insensitive for anybody to use
N37 billion for renovation in the present circumstance. It is very
irresponsible to use even N10 billion to renovate the National Assembly. The
money should be used where it will benefit all Nigerians.”
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