Following the report of Sheik Ahmed Lemu report that indicated that the National Assembly is milking the country dry through its extravagant budget, Cross River Central lawmaker, Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba noted in a recent interview that there may be need to scrap the National Assembly if this will lead to cut in cost of governance in the country.
Ndoma-Egba argued that the Lemu report was simply an act of “sensationalism, tokenism, scapegoatism and diversionary tactics” having indicated that the lawmakers get jumbo pay out of the country’s annual budget.
He insisted that the National Assembly gets only N150 billion or three per cent of the country’s annual budget which he said the senate has maintained for the last four or five years.
“The total running cost of the National Assembly is that N150 billion out of a budget of N4.8trillion”, he declared.
He analysed the figures thus:
“That of the Judiciary has been dwindling, from N97billion four years ago to about N60billion.
“What has been the trend for the Executive? Has it been stagnant like the National Assembly or has it dwindled like the Judiciary?
“That of the Executive has continued to go up. Now, what is the ratio or the percentage of N150billion out of a national budget of approximately N4.8trillion, about three per cent.
“So, why do we have this fixation on three per cent of the budget and not on 97 per cent of the budget?
“Three per cent of the budget is getting 97 per cent attention and 97 per cent of the budget is getting three per cent attention.
“What is the fixation? And now the impression out there is that ‘oh you collect this N150 billion and just share it amongst members of the National Assembly.
“Nothing can be more fallacious because one, the N150 billion includes our capital; it includes recurrent; it includes the salaries of 109 Senators, 360 members of the House of Representatives, their aides – we have a maximum of six aides”, he said.
He pointed out that the N150billion covers the following areas: the salaries of the civil servants from the Clerk to the National Assembly to the Deputy Clerk, to the Clerk of Senate, Clerk of House and to all the civil servants here down to the lowest cleaner; the salaries of the National Assembly Service Commission, from the Chairman through his Commissioners, down to the civil servants there to the lowest cleaner.
He further said the salaries and allowances of the National Institute of Legislative Studies, from the Director General through the many Professors down to the cleaner as well as the Senate’s subscriptions to international parliamentary organizations are also including.
The Senator however argued that the executive arm of government spends far more than the other two arms but are not the members of the public do not inquire into it spending.
Analyzing the Senate’s salary structure, Ndoma-Egba said his take-home pay after tax is between N900,000 and N600,000. The basic salary of a rank and file member of the US Congress is $174,000.
“What does it cost to maintain a senior manager in NNPC? I am not talking of the Managing Director. Do we know?”
“What does it cost to maintain a senior manager in Petroleum Technology Development Fund? What does it cost to maintain a senior manager in Central Bank of Nigeria? Do we know?” he queried.
He was adamant that scrapping the parliament should be considered if that would be able to moderate the “misinformed sentiment” some Nigerians have about the expenses of the National Assembly.
He substantiated that despite the fact that the parliament was not in existence throughout the military era of about 30years, cost of governance has always being on the high side and also a topical issue in government.
“We lived without the National Assembly for 30 years. Let’s scrap it and see whether it will solve the problem, the senator proposed.
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