NASS Urged to Open Budget

That Nigeria’ s National Assembly, an arm of government that supposedly up holds accountability, has remained an impregnable black box which defies public scrutiny is an irony of all ironies, Budg IT has stated.

A statement from the organisation noted that aside from the lawmakers being ranked as world’ s top-paid legislators, at public expense, the annual budget of the National Assembly was a one-line statutory transfer which is neither reviewed by any authority nor, at the very least, made accessible to the public thus enabling unbridled corruption. “At this age of digital governance plus global calls for transparency in public institutions, it is a national disrepute that the parliament has refused to eschew anti-democratic practices, as it continues to bury its yearly allocations under the hallowed chambers.

“More disappointing is the fact that, despite Nigeria’s membership in Open Government Partnership and tons of pl edges b y Senate President Bu kola Sara ki to run an “open NA SS ,” the National Assembly immediately relapsed into its default setting after a breakdown of the budget was made public in 2017, thanks to public pressure.

“Asserting that the 2017 record must be made permanent, we are making a renewed demand from the leadership of the eighth assembly to fully redeem its promise. Starting again with the 2019 budget, a line-by-line breakdown of the NASS allocation must be made public going forward. “That is the ultimate way the legislature can lead by example in making public accountability a Nigerian culture,” BudgIT’s principal lead, Gabriel Okeowo, was quoted to have said.

Saraki and Dogara were urged to leave behind “a great legacy, one that history would never forget, by truly and finally opening NASS.”