N125bn budget: We have nothing to hide — House leader

There is nothing to hide on the N125bn budget of the National Assembly, Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Rep. Alhassan Ado Doguwa (APC, Kano), has said.

Nigerians are mounting pressure on the parliament to release the details of its budget. For the 2021 fiscal year, President Muhammadu Buhari has proposed N128bn for the federal lawmakers, against N125bn budgeted this year. The lawmakers’ budget has since 2010 been an on-line item.

But in an interview with our correspondent, Doguwa said the budget of the federal parliament has never been hidden.

“The National Assembly’s budget as always was never hidden. Our gross capital budget for 2020 was N125bn. The judiciary had slightly above N100bn.

“The presidency plus their usual service-wide votes was about N200bn. If however, you are interested to know our detailed capital and recurrent financing you are free to contact the National Assembly budget office and our accounts department.

“We have nothing to hide. Remember, the Freedom of Information Act was our initiative. We must, therefore, protect and promote it at all cost. But if I may ask; Why is the question always about NASS?” he said.

He added that the N125bn budgetary allocation was not meant for the lawmakers alone.