Budget: SERAP Drags Lawan, Gbajabiamila to Court

By Uche Mbah

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has dragged the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan and Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila to Court over their humongous budgetary provisions for themselves. It accused the National Assembly of unlawfully budgeting N228.1bn for themselves, “including the N30.17bn severance payments and inauguration costs for members.”

The National Assembly proposed an increase of its 2023 budget from N169bn proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari to N228.1bn, an increase of about N59.1bn.

In a suit number filed Friday and numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/152/2023 at the Federal High Court in Abuja, SERAP is seeking the Court to direct and compel Dr Lawan and Mr Gbajabiamila to as a matter of urgency review with a view to reducing the “budget of N228.1bn the leadership and members of the National Assembly allocated for their own benefit.”Part of their prayer is for the Court to give“an order restraining and stopping Ms Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning from releasing to the National Assembly the budget of N228.1bn, until an impact assessment of the spending on access to public goods and services and the country’s debt crisis, is carried out.”

-“An order restraining and stopping Dr Lawan and Mr Gbajabiamila from demanding or collecting the National Assembly budget of N228.1bn, until an impact assessment of the spending on access to public goods and services and the country’s debt crisis, is carried out.”

According to SERAP, “It is a grave violation of the public trust and constitutional oath of office for the members of the National Assembly to increase their own budget at a time when some 133 million Nigerians are living in poverty.

“The National Assembly budget of N228.1bn is higher than the statutory transfer to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), which is N103.3bn. “The increase is unreasonable, as it would substantially increase the cost of governance, and exacerbate the country’s debt crisis. It is unlawful, and unfair to the Nigerian people.

“Cutting the National Assembly budget would reduce the growing budget deficit, address the unsustainable debt burden, and serve the public interest.

“By increasing its own budget, the National Assembly has unjustifiably and disproportionately reduced the budget for the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).

“This is a travesty, especially given that Nigeria currently has over 20 million out-of-school children, and half of all poor people in the country are children.

“The budget should reflect national development priorities, and not serve as a tool to satisfy the lifestyle of lawmakers or provide them with severance payments or parting gifts.