Cut N9.4bn presidency budget, NASS’ N344bn, SERAP tells Akpabio, Abbas

Socio Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, “to cut the proposed budget of N9.4bn on travels, refreshment/meals, and foodstuff/catering materials for the presidency, and the proposed N344.85bn for the lawmakers, and to use the savings to address the budget […]

Socio Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, “to cut the proposed budget of N9.4bn on travels, refreshment/meals, and foodstuff/catering materials for the presidency, and the proposed N344.85bn for the lawmakers, and to use the savings to address the budget deficit.”

SERAP urged Akpabio and Abbas “to request President Bola Tinubu to present a fresh supplementary appropriation bill, which reflects the reduced presidency budget and National Assembly budget, for the approval of the National Assembly.”

SERAP also urged the duo “to promptly disclose the detailed breakdown of the proposed National Assembly budget of N344.85bn, including the details for personnel cost, salaries and allowance of lawmakers.”

The organisation asked Akpabio, and Abbas “to invite the heads of the alleged corrupt ministries, departments and agencies [MDAs] to explain the whereabouts of the missing billions of naira of public funds, as documented in the recently released 2021 audited report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.”

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In the letter dated 21 December 2024 and signed by SERAP Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “Any proposed unnecessary spending by the Presidency and the National Assembly would amount to a fundamental breach of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended].”

SERAP said, “the proposed huge spending is neither necessary nor in the public interest, especially in the face of the country’s dire economic situation and the level of proposed borrowing to fund the 2025 budget.

“The National Assembly has transparency obligations to disclose the details and breakdown of the proposed budget for the lawmakers. We urge you to publicly commit that the National Assembly will reduce and not increase its proposed budget of N344.85bn for 2025.

“While the presidency budget for ‘rehabilitation and repairs of fixed assets’ in the 2024 budget was N14bn, the budget for the same item in the 2025 budget is N26bn, an increase of about N12bn.

“Should the National Assembly and its leadership fail to reduce the unnecessary spending and tackle the systemic corruption in MDAs, SERAP would consider appropriate legal action to compel the National Assembly to discharge its constitutional oversight and fiduciary responsibilities.

“The National Assembly seems to budget the same amounts in the 2025 budget for the same budget items in the 2024 budget.

“It would be a grave violation of the public trust and constitutional oath of office for the members of the National Assembly to approve unnecessary spending for themselves and the presidency.

“Many Nigerians will find it quite odd, unfair and unjust that the government and lawmakers are spending so much money on many of these items in the middle of a public borrowing crisis.The proposed spending could be better allocated to improve access of Nigerians to basic public goods and sservices.”