By Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern OperationThe culture of secrecy surrounding the annual allocations to the legislative arm may be over following the decision of the leadership of the 9th National Assembly to release details of the over N128billion appropriation for 2021.The breakdown obtained by The Nation includes: National Assembly Management (N15,967,404, 815); Senate (N33. 267,001,807); House of Representatives (N51,994,511,954); National Assembly Service Commission (N5,734,166,662); Legislative aides (N9,602,095,928); Public Account Committee(Senate)-N118,970,215; and Public Account Committee House of Representatives)N142,764,258.Others are General Service (N9,134,672,079); National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (N7, 372,813,596); Service-Wide Vote (N389,354,934) and Office of the Retired Clerks and Permanent Secretaries (N275,243,752).Sources said the 9th National Assembly under the leadership of President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, and House of Representatives Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, decided to end the culture of secrecy that historically surrounded the budget of the countrys highest legislative making body.Read Also: Lawmakers raise Budget 2021 estimates by N506bA top source said: In recent time, only the total budget of the National Assembly has been known to the public as a single line item under Statutory Transfers.The National Assembly has gone further to break down its budget under the same Statutory Transfers. The National Assembly budget breakdown is obviously in line with the pledge made by its leadership to ensure greater openness and accountability.This is notwithstanding of the fact that the Clerk to National Assembly is the Chief Accounting Officer and administrator of the finances of the National Assembly.You can see these details in the draft budget passed by the federal lawmakers on December 21, 2021, and published in the Order Paper of the House of Representatives of the same day.It is obvious that in a N13, 588, 027886, 175 trillion budget, what is voted for the lawmakers is not even up to N150billion.Responding to a question, a principal officer of the National Assembly said: There is too much pressure on lawmakers as if the nations budget is wholly allocated to us. Now, Nigerians can read between the lines on what actually comes to us.We now have details of the amount spent on the NASS bureaucracy; amount spent on the Senate (bureaucracy, facility management, Senate Services and programmes; salaries and allowances etc.); amount spent on the House of Representatives (bureaucracy, facility management, House Services and programmes; salaries and allowances etc.); amount spent on the National Assembly Service Commission; amount spent on the training, salaries and allowances of legislative aides; amount spent on the Public Accounts Committee of the Senate and the House; General Services; amount spent on the Research/Academic arm of the National AssemblyNational Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS); Service Wide Votes of the National Assembly; and contributions to the retirement benefits of former Clerks and Permanent Secretaries of NASS.The breakdown will encourage Nigerians to put the executive to task on how the nations budget is being managed. It will also guide those in the civil society on where to run to for accountability.We are ready to give more details on how the National Assemblys budget is spent.There had been an outrage over the N128billion budget for 2021.The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) described the National Assembly budget as a travesty.SERAP, in a tweet, asked Lawan and Gbajabiamila to urgently push to cut the N128bn budget for the National Assembly in 2021.It said: The National Assembly ought to prioritize spending for education and healthcare. Well see in court if our lawmakers approve this money for themselves.
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