I’ve never seen national assembly budget as senate president, says Akpabio

 Senate President Godswill Akpabio says he has never seen the
national assembly’s budget despite presiding over the upper legislative
chamber.

 

TheCable had reported that despite billions of naira spent
refurbishing the chambers, lawmakers continue to grapple with malfunctioning
microphones and faulty electronic voting devices, forcing both chambers to
adopt manual voting on key constitutional amendments.

Akpabio spoke on Thursday during plenary after the senate
stepped down a motion seeking to review the legislature’s internal procurement
process and establish an internal tender’s board for contract awards.

The motion, sponsored by Sunday Karimi, senator representing
Kogi west, came less than 24 hours after the senate president threatened to
sanction the contractor responsible for renovating the national assembly
chambers over persistent technical faults with the newly installed audio
system.

Responding to the debate, Akpabio said lawmakers should
first understand the national assembly’s budget and spending before considering
procurement reforms.

“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.

Akpabio then turned to Aminu Tambuwal, senator representing
Sokoto south and former speaker of the house of representatives, asking whether
the leadership of the green chamber had access to its budget.

“You were a speaker… maybe in the house of representatives,
they show you?” he asked.

“Yes,” Tambuwal replied.

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

Akpabio said the senate president has little involvement in
the management of the legislature’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.

He added that the senate and the house of representatives
should jointly examine how the national assembly’s budget is allocated before
debating procurement reforms.

“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 said Karimi ought to have discussed the proposal with
him, the clerk to the national assembly (CNA) and the management before
bringing it 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.

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

Akpabio then asked Karimi to withdraw the motion, and the
senator complied.

LAWMAKERS SEEK GREATER BUDGET TRANSPARENCY

Earlier, Karimi argued that creating an internal tender’s
board would strengthen the constitutional autonomy of the national assembly by
allowing it to evaluate and approve procurement matters within its approved
budget.

He noted that the proposed board would oversee procurement
and contract awards on behalf of the management of the national assembly in
accordance with existing financial regulations. However, several senators
opposed the motion.

Binos Yaroe, senator representing Adamawa south, questioned
the oversight structure governing the national assembly’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.

Yahaya Abdullahi, senator representing Kebbi north, said the
procurement process is not the legislature’s primary challenge, arguing that
the absence of a budget and research office had weakened lawmakers’ oversight
of the national assembly’s finances.

“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 had 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.”

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