Budget Of NASS Stagnant For 13 Years – Speaker

By Oduyemi Odumade

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr. Abbas Tajudeen, has disclosed that the annual budget of the National Assembly has been stagnant for 13 years despite inflation and its attendant consequences.

According to the Speaker, notwithstanding, the expenditure of the federal legislature has gone up within the period but without the commensurate budgetary provisions to back it up.

The Speaker made the observation in Abuja while addressing a delegation from the African Business Roundtable led by its Executive Director (West Africa), Mr. Dotun Ajayi.

He said the 10th House had created over 60 parliamentary friendship committees to enhance the relationship between the House and other parliaments across the world.

According to him, the Friendship Committees need support from outside to function efficiently, noting that the House will support any cause that will lead to enhanced relationships with other parliaments.

Earlier, Mr Ajayi said the recent coup in Niger Republic brought a new dimension to the engagements between some European countries and West Africa.

He noted that Niger has problems with only France in Europe, whereas the French government was planning to cut all forms of assistance to West Africa due to the coup.

“The President has been playing some roles behind the scenes on this. The parliament needs to be seen to work with him on this.
“Our Parliament should engage the French Parliament and the EU”.

He said the European Union has set aside €20 billion for Sub-Saharan Africa, noting, “We want to see a situation where your engagement increases what comes to Nigeria.

“We’re proposing an engagement between you and your members for a partnership between you and the EU and the French Parliament”.

Edited By Grace Namiji