Good afternoon gentlemen of the press, all protocols duly observed.
The attention of the Coalition of Civil Society Groups for Peace, Security, Good Governance, Equity and Justice have been drawn to the campaign of calumny and negative narratives by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) against the National Assembly Leadership over the 2023 budget of N228.1bn. Before delving into the frivolous suit filed against the National Assembly Leadership, we made bold to state that the court have no right to adjudicate on the matter as the Constitution clearly gives the National Assembly as the third tier of government the power of appropriation. Beside inflation and the poor value of the naira has made it imperative for an enhanced budget for the National Assembly. At this juncture, it will be pertinent to state that the 2023 N228.1bn National Assembly Budget is grossly inadequate considering the fact that the Senate is made up of 109 Senators with three equal members from the 36 states of the federation and one (Senator) from the Federal Capital Territory and the House of Reps comprises of 360 members elected from the 360 constituencies across the nation. The National Assembly (NASS) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is one of the three arms of government under a presidential system of government, the principle of separation of power and the theory of checks and balances which unequivocally gives the National Assembly the power of appropriation of the National Budget. It is therefore baffling that SERAP does not know the roles of National Assembly and is maligning the National Assembly. As a Pan-Nigerian Civil Rights organization, we counter this negative diatribe against the National Assembly 2023 Budget by SERAP and maintain that it is crossly inadequate and paltry.
The roles of the National Assembly under the 1999 constitution include law-making, representation, oversight of the executive, investigative roles and wash dog of public funds. Others are approval and removal of elective executive officials and non-executive officials, passage of treaties into laws, approval of war decision of the executive and deployment of armed forces on combat outside Nigeria. The economic well-being of the legislature will enhance its role as the bed rock of democracy in Nigeria. The legislature is a very important institution in giving concrete expression to the economic well-being of members of the society. This it does through legislation, policy input into the budget, passage of the annual appropriation law, oversight of public expenditure and policies, constant review of legislation to react to new economic challenges and so on. Regrettably, paucity of funds and poor budgetary allocation has hampered the performance of the National Assembly, this is worsened by political rivalry with the executive which commendably the current National Assembly Leadership ably led by the Senator Ahmad Lawan has reduced to the barest minimum. In pursuit of its constitutional responsibilities, the National Assembly relies on the bureaucracy which is comprised of non-career political officers who are responsible for the day to day administration of the NASS as well as keeping the books and proper records of the proceedings of the two Chambers.
Apart from this, there are other subsidiaries which contributes to the effectiveness, efficiency and the general success of the legislature in its roles. They include; the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC), National Assembly Legislative Institute and the Public Complaints Commission. After the critical observation of these important roles, we therefore made bold to state that the 2023 budget of N228.1bn is crossly inadequate considering the fact that includes severance payment and inauguration cost for new members.
Signed:
Comrade James Okoronkwo National Coordinator
Mallam Isah Taidi Secretary
