Ali Ndume, who until a fortnight ago was the Senate Leader, stated this on the floor of the Senate during the debate on the 2017 budget.

Mr. Ndume, who decried that the budget of the Senate was not known to the senators, said it was important to let the public know details of the budget of the red chamber.

“This is very important because we cannot be taking blames or credits of things we didn’t know of,” he said. honour pledges to make the details of the N115 billion national Assembly public.

With N23.347 billion in 2003, the National Assembly’s budget now stands at about N115 billion, representing over 492 per cent rise in 13 years. Until 2016, the budget had often gone as high as N150 billion.

Several lawmakers stated that the National Assembly leadership, particularly the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, use the budget to have total influence on lawmakers as they determine who gets what and when including the controversial quarterly constituency allowance.

“Because most of us benefit from these allowances, it is really difficult to speak publicly against the leadership,” a member of the House of Representatives said.

The National Assembly leadership has since ignored calls by Nigerians and civil society groups to make details of the budget public.

The Senate spokesperson, Aliyu Abdullahi, had mentioned it was not in “public interest” to disclose Senate budget.

“The National Assembly does not have same budget structure with the Executive and it is not in the public interest to see everything in the budget (of the NASS),” Mr. Abdullahi said.

Apart from calling for transparency in the National Assembly budget, Mr. Ndume (APC-Borno) also called for total overhaul of the 2017 Appropriation Bill to address the needs of Nigerians.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on December 14 presented to the National Assembly the 2017 budget of N7.30 trillion.
Senate President, Bukola Saraki

Mr. Ndume said that the most important ingredient of any budget was details.

“However, the 2017 budget lacks details,” he said.

“This is a government of change and for the budget to lack details, this must also change.

“The details of the budget must be considered holistically,” he advised.

NORTH EAST, OTHERS

While describing as “catastrophe” the humanitarian crisis in the North-East, Mr. Ndume said that the N45 billion projected in the budget for the area was inadequate.

“The international community and the United Nations agencies have donated N305 billion for 2017, yet Nigeria is budgeting N45 billion; there is an emergency situation and the government should do more,” he said.

Besides, he urged the Senate to allocate reasonable sum in assisting the Internally Displaced Persons.

“We should be seen as being serious about the humanitarian crisis in the North-East,” he said.

Similarly, Shehu Sani (APC-Kaduna) said that the budget should not simply be a collection of numbers but that of aspirations and values of people.

“Each year it passes through the ritual of passing through the National Assembly and the state of Nigerians as far as their life is concerned experience no change.
ndume_3 Former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume

“On N1.663 trillion for debt servicing, we should explore the goodwill that Nigeria enjoys today from the international community to seek for further debt forgiveness so as to buttress our economy to address other issues which we are faced with.