Senate reviews its controversial N120bn budget

In response to protests over the salaries and allowances of lawmakers, Bukola Saraki, senate president, on Tuesday, said an ad hoc committee would be set up “immediately” to review the budget structure of the national assembly, which is currently N120 billion.

Saraki, who was speaking after a closed-session which‎ lasted an hour, also announced the setting up of an 18-man committee comprising senators from the six geopolitical zones to draw up an agenda for the eighth senate within a couple of weeks.

‎”The task before us is enormous and very clear. Nigerians voted for change. They demand that we deliver to them tangible change. They expect that we improve the quality of governance,” he said.

“Three issues agitate their minds today. The falling government revenues, the current fiscal crisis in many of our states and the unsustainable cost of governance‎ in the country and the rising cost of doing business in Nigeria. We must provide answers because it can no longer be business as usual.

“As it stands, to leave a historic impact on the affairs of our nation, we must choose to show we are made for this moment. Without doing so we cannot have the moral authority to question ministries, departments and agencies that carry on with little regard for the public good.

“In the last few days we have seen the media awash with fictitious reports of all‎owances for national assembly members. It further emphasises the need for us to be more transparent in the national assembly to avoid attendant misinformation this kind of mischief can bring.

“In the coming days, we shall be setting up an ad hoc committee immediately to reappraise the structure of the national assembly budget to ensure that it is in line with economic realties.”

The senate president further implored his colleagues to be ready for legislative business, emphasising tha‎t Nigerians were counting on them to make things better.

Meanwhile, Saraki was expected to ‎read out a letter, containing the names of ministerial nominees from President Muhammadu Buhari, but that did not happen.

The red chamber, as the senate is called, was “uncharacteristically” filled with senators; some of them attending the session for the first time.

Among the “first timers” was Rabiu Kwankwaso, former governor of Kano state, who was sworn in as senator on Tuesday.

‎The senate which went on recess on June 10 resumed on Tuesday.