Sanusi: Mischievous Over Comment On NASS - Senate

ABUJA, Nov 29, (THEWILL) - Senate today declared that the Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is simply being mischievous and may be driving at destroying the National Assembly following statements credited to Sanusi that the cost of running the National Assembly is crippling the economy.

Senate spokesman, Senator Ayogu Eze consequently disclosed that lawmakers may be compelled to summon Sanusi to explain his statement. The lawmakers also demanded an immediate retraction of the statement with an apology.

Eze said the allegation that 25 percent of the recurrent over head budget of the federation goes to the National Assembly is unfounded and; “I find that rather very curious, in the sense that even before going to the press, the respective newspapers should have pulled a copy of the amended approved budget for the year and did the calculation for themselves. This was not the case and what we saw in the paper this morning, some were giving the indication that the National Assembly has crippled the economy. That the National Assembly takes 25 percent of the entire budget of the federation, and so on so forth, all the papers took it from angles that cut their fancies. I want to state categorically that that is not true. The total budget figure for the year 2010 as amended is N4, 427, 184, 596, 534. That is the entire budget of the federation.

“And the entire budget of the National Assembly, including the Senate, the House of Reps, the National Assembly Service Commission, our legislative aides and all the entire current and capital expenditure for the year 2010 is N158, 916, 167, 627. If you reduce this to mathematics, what we have is N4.427 Trillion for the entire federation and what the National Assembly gets is N0.158 trillion which is 3.5 percent of the entire budget of the federation. So where the mathematics of the 25 percent come from?

“I think that this is not only mischievous, it is calculated to tarnish the image and reputation of the National Assembly, and it is part of the orchestrated assault, verbal and sometime physical against the National Assembly by some misinformed and some people who do not wish the National Assembly well,” Senator Eze said.

He said the statement unfair to the National Assembly considering its contribution to the democracy.

“I think this is most unfair and in the National Assembly we have been doing our best to stabilize this democracy, we have been contributing our own quota.

“We know that this is an election season, but even madness has it rules, we have come to election season, but we must conduct election period with facts, not fabricating things just to tarnish the image of people who are working for this country. I told you before and I stand to be contradicted, the American senate alone even though we do not want to compare ourselves with America, takes $4 billion every year to run the American Senate. If you convert it, that is more than the entire budget of the federation of Nigeria.

“We should be talking about giving infrastructure to our people. We should ask the implementers of this budget whether they are really applying this budget to the needs of our people not fishing for trouble where do not exist”, he added.