Akpabio Admits Senate Has no Access to National Assembly Budget

• Senate President says lawmakers should first understand the legislature’s finances before pursuing procurement reforms.

• Senators question secrecy surrounding National Assembly budget and spending.

• Procurement reform motion withdrawn after debate over financial transparency.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has revealed that the Senate leadership does not have access to the National Assembly’s budget, raising fresh concerns over transparency in the management of the legislature’s finances.

Akpabio made the disclosure during Thursday’s plenary while responding to a motion seeking to establish an internal tenders board to oversee procurement and contract awards within the National Assembly.

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The motion, sponsored by Senator Sunday Karimi, representing Kogi West, came amid growing scrutiny of procurement processes following persistent technical faults in the recently renovated chambers, including malfunctioning microphones and electronic voting devices despite billions of naira reportedly spent on refurbishment.

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Arguing that lawmakers should first understand how the legislature’s finances are managed, Akpabio said he had never been presented with the National Assembly’s budget.

“We can set up a small committee to work with the management of both chambers… because personally I’ve never seen the budget of the National Assembly,” he said.

The Senate President turned to former Speaker of the House of Representatives and Senator representing Sokoto South, Aminu Tambuwal, to ask whether House leadership had access to the legislature’s budget during his tenure.

“You were a Speaker… maybe in the House of Representatives, they show you?” Akpabio asked.

“Yes,” Tambuwal replied.

“You see. That’s the point. So, the fault lies here in the Senate,” Akpabio responded.

He lamented what he described as the limited involvement of the Senate President in the management of the National Assembly’s finances.

“The way I do things, not that I’m nonchalant, it’s as if they make it a closed thing, and that the Senate President doesn’t have anything to do with the management’s funds and all that,” he said.

Akpabio maintained that both chambers of the National Assembly should jointly examine and debate the legislature’s budget before embarking on reforms of its procurement framework.

“We should start with ourselves, and we should get the two chambers to know exactly what is going on,” he said.

“We should also debate and understand the budget. We should know how much is coming, what is going to where, and what is going to where.”

He also faulted the timing of Karimi’s proposal, saying the senator ought to have consulted the Senate leadership, the Clerk to the National Assembly and the management before bringing the motion to the floor.

“Talking about internal tenders board and all that, should it be in the public glare before we clean up our house?” he asked.

Describing the proposal as premature, Akpabio urged Karimi to withdraw the motion, a request the lawmaker accepted.

Earlier, Karimi had argued that creating an internal tenders board would strengthen the constitutional autonomy of the National Assembly by allowing it to independently evaluate and approve procurement matters within its approved budget.

The proposal, however, attracted opposition from several senators, who insisted that transparency over the National Assembly’s finances should take precedence.

Senator Binos Yaroe (Adamawa South) questioned the oversight process for the legislature’s budget.

“Who scrutinises that budget? To which committee does the National Assembly submit its budget? It is important for us to have clarity on these points,” Yaroe said.

Similarly, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North) argued that procurement was not the legislature’s biggest challenge, blaming the absence of a functional budget and research office for the lack of oversight.

“The issue of the problems that we have in the National Assembly regarding the management of finances and the budget do not just solely lie in the process of procurement,” Abdullahi said.

“The problem has been that the National Assembly has not set up a budget and research office, of which there have been legislations over several assemblies.

“What is happening today is that we don’t even know, and we don’t even see the budget of the National Assembly being presented here so that we can interrogate and understand the lines of expenditure.

“My opinion is that the senator should step down on this motion. Let us get the house right first before we talk about the issues that Distinguished Senator Karimi is raising.”

Following the debate, the Senate stepped down the motion, with lawmakers agreeing that greater financial transparency within the legislature should precede any overhaul of its procurement system.