Senate President Godswill Akpabio has disclosed that he has never seen the budget of the National Assembly, calling for greater transparency in the management of the legislature’s finances.
Akpabio made the remark during Thursday’s plenary after the Senate stepped down a motion seeking to review the National Assembly’s internal procurement process and establish an internal tenders board for contract awards.
The motion, sponsored by Senator Sunday Karimi (Kogi West), followed concerns over persistent technical faults in the recently renovated National Assembly chambers, including malfunctioning microphones and faulty electronic voting devices, despite billions of naira reportedly spent on the refurbishment.
Speaking during the debate, Akpabio said senators should first understand the legislature’s budget and spending pattern before considering changes to the procurement process.
“We can set up a small committee to work with the management of both chambers because personally, I’ve never seen the budget of the National Assembly,” he said.
The Senate President turned to former Speaker of the House of Representatives and current Senator representing Sokoto South, Aminu Tambuwal, asking whether House leadership had access to its budget while he was Speaker.
When Tambuwal replied in the affirmative, Akpabio said, “You see. That’s the point. So, the fault lies here in the Senate.”
He stated that the Senate President has little involvement in the management of the National Assembly’s finances, describing the process as largely closed to the leadership of the upper chamber.
“The way I do things, not that I’m nonchalant, it’s as if they make it a closed thing, and that the Senate President doesn’t have anything to do with the management’s funds and all that,” he said.
Akpabio stressed the need for both the Senate and the House of Representatives to jointly examine the National Assembly’s budget to understand how funds are allocated.
“We should start with ourselves, and we should get the two chambers to know exactly what is going on. We should also debate and understand the budget. We should know how much is coming, what is going to where,” he said.
He also faulted Karimi for presenting the motion without first consulting him, the Clerk to the National Assembly and the management.
According to him, discussing issues such as the establishment of an internal tenders board on the floor of the Senate was premature, insisting the legislature should first address its internal financial management.
Following his remarks, Karimi withdrew the motion.
Earlier, the Kogi West lawmaker had argued that creating an internal tenders board would strengthen the constitutional autonomy of the National Assembly by allowing it to oversee procurement and contract awards within its approved budget.
Several senators, however, opposed the proposal.
Senator Binos Yaroe (Adamawa South) questioned the oversight process for the National Assembly’s budget, asking which committee scrutinises the spending plan before approval.
Similarly, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North) argued that the legislature’s major challenge was not procurement but the absence of a budget and research office, which he said had limited lawmakers’ ability to scrutinise the National Assembly’s finances.
He noted that legislators do not have access to the National Assembly’s budget for proper interrogation and urged the Senate to address that issue before embarking on procurement reforms.
Titilope Adako is a talented and intrepid journalist, dedicated to shedding light on the untold stories of Osun State and Nigeria. Through incisive reporting, she tackles a broad spectrum of topics, from politics and social justice to culture and entertainment, with a commitment to accuracy, empathy, and inspiring positive change.
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