Saraki insists N125b budget for National Assembly is not too much

- Senate President Bukola Saraki has stated that the multi-billion naira budget for the legislature is not too much when compared to the entire budget of Nigeria for the whole year

- Saraki says what is set aside for National Assembly from the budget is just 3% of the country’s total spending for 2017

- He says it is just three percent of the entire budget and therefore small when factored against other areas of government

Senate President Bukola Saraki has insisted that the N125billion allocated for the National Assembly is not too much.

Saraki said the budget is not too much when compared to the entire budget for the whole year.

The Senate President made this clear in an interview with Channels TV.

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According to him, what is set aside for National Assembly from the budget is just 3% of the country’s total spending for 2017.

“That is not being fair, because the money is not going to the senator, it is the cost of running an arm of government. It is not the senator,” he said.

“In as much as we would take our criticism, we owe a responsibility to get across the right message; that is what it cost to run the legislative arm of government.

“You don’t take the overhead of the executive and say this is how much it cost to have a president, or a vice-president, or a minister, let’s be fair.”

When asked if the National Assembly could fairly defend its budget, Saraki said: “It is three percent of the entire budget, if you factor that against other areas of government, it is totally insignificant, as regards an arm of government.

“It sounds nice or I think if you are playing to the gallery, we can do that, but I think serious minded leaders must address what are the major issues; yes, we should cut cost, but no matter how much cost you cut, apart from retrenchment, you cannot reduce that cost by a certain percent.

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“If you truly want to cut cost, just like when you run a company, you can cut all the cost but at the end of the day, you will have to go through issues of retrenchment, which we know is not an action we are likely to take.”

Meanwhile, NAIJ.com earlier reported that the Nigerian Senate dismissed some concerns recently raised by human rights lawyer, Chief Femi Falana (SAN) about the signing of the budget.

Falana had advised Acting President Yemi Osinbajo not to sign the 2017 budget sent to him by the National Assembly.

The lawyer said the National Assembly had no right to increase its budget and urged the acting president to peruse it properly.

Watch the NAIJ.com TV video below of the minister of transportation Rotimi Amaechi talking about the achievements of the federal government: