…threatens court action
Recently, a Lagos-based rights group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called to order the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, to retrieve its nurturing plans to lavish money on miscellaneous items even as the nation struggles to recoup from the economic downturn.
As there are indications that the National Assembly may be dragged before the court if it did not stop the moves aimed at spending N40bn on 465 exotic and bulletproof cars for members and principal officials, and N70bn as ‘palliatives’ for new members.
SERAP however made the request through a statement issued by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare who also urged the National Assembly to repeal the 2022 Supplementary Appropriation Act to reduce the budget for the National Assembly by N110bn, reflect the current economic realities in the country and address the impact of the removal of fuel subsidy on the over 137 million poor Nigerians.
However, SERAP prayed the lawmaking body to, “Request President Bola Tinubu to present a fresh supplementary appropriation bill, to redirect the N110 billion to address the situation of the over 20 million out-of-school children in Nigeria, for the approval of the National Assembly”.
According to SERAP, “While N70 billion ‘support allowance’ is budgeted for 306 new lawmakers, only N500 billion worth of palliatives is budgeted for 12 million poor Nigerians. N40 billion is also allocated to buy 465 Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and bulletproof cars for members and principal officials.”
Referring to its letter dated July 15, 2023, the group contended that, “This travesty and apparent conflicts of interest and self-dealing by members of the National Assembly must stop”.
While adding that it is a fundamental breach of their fiduciary duties for members of the National Assembly to arbitrarily increase their budget and use the budget as a tool to satisfy the lifestyle of lawmakers, SERAP insisted that It is a grave violation of the public trust and constitutional oath of office for members of the National Assembly to unjustifiably increase their budget at a time when over 137 million poor Nigerians are living in extreme poverty exacerbated by the removal of fuel subsidy.
In a statement SERAP expressed, “We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within seven days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel you and the National Assembly to comply with our request in the public interest.
“Rather than exercising their constitutional and oversight functions to pursue the public interest in considering bills to improve the conditions of the over 137 million poor Nigerians who are facing the impact of the removal of fuel subsidy, the lawmakers seem to be looking after themselves.
“According to reports, no fewer than 107 units of the 2023 model of the Toyota Landcruiser and 358 units of the 2023 model of Toyota Prado would be bought for the use of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives respectively”