‘N125b Budget For NASS Inadequate’
A member of the House of Representatives, Nicholas Ossai (Delta-PDP), has said that the N125 billion appropriated to the National Assembly is not adequate to carry out its functions effectively and efficiently.
Ossai made the assertion in an interview on Friday in Abuja, insisting that the legislators need more funds to discharge their duties.
The National Assembly had on Thursday published its 2017 budget of N125 billion, which was higher than the N115 billion approved in 2016.
Ossai, however, said that the additional N10 billion inserted in the budget would strengthen oversight functions by members of the National Assembly.
“This is necessary so that Nigerians will have the impact and value creation of what has been budgeted.
“Nigerians are not looking at that, we are looking at the National Assembly as 360 members of House of Representatives and 109 Senators; calculate it with the money that has been budgeted without looking at other aspects.
“We are not looking at other agencies under the National Assembly like the Public Complaints Commission, National Institute for Legislative Studies, the National Assembly Service Commission and supporting staff.
“The committees are carrying out national functions in line with Section 88 of the Constitution to expose corruption.
“That committees not only expose corruption, but block leakages; definitely, we need a lot of money to address these issues.
“To the best of my knowledge, that money is not enough to address the issues of carrying out the national functions of the national assembly,” Ossai claimed.