President signs budget as N’Assembly raises lawmakers allocation to N344bn

The National Assembly has raised its 2024 budgetary allocation by 74.23 per cent to N344.85bn.

This will be the highest-ever budgetary allocation to the National Assembly whose initial allocation in the 2024 budget proposal was pegged at N197.93bn.

The increase in allocation to the Senate and House of Representatives is happening amidst a cost-of-living crisis in the country, with the government telling citizens at various for a that the country is facing tough times.

In the recently passed and now signed 2024 Appropriation Bill, the National Assembly increased the budget by N1.2tn to N28.77tn from the earlier proposed N27.5tn by the Executive.

The parliament raised statutory transfers (i.e., funding to the National Judicial Council, Niger-Delta Development Commission, Universal Basic Education Commission, National Assembly, Public Complaints Commission, Independent National Electoral Commission, National Human Rights Commission, North-East Development Commission, Basic Health Care Provision Fund, and National Agency for Science And Engineering Infrastructure) from N1.38tn to N1.74tn.

This is according to data from a document titled, ‘House of Representatives Federal Republic of Nigeria Order Paper,’ dated Saturday, December 30th, 2023.

The document revealed the following changes in statutory allocations: National Judicial Council N341.63bn (formerly N165bn), Niger-Delta Development Commission N338.93bn (formerly N324.85bn), Universal Basic Education Commission N263.04bn (formerly N251.47bn), National Assembly N344.85bn (formerly N197.93bn), Public Complaints Commission N14.46bn (formerly N13.69bn), Independent National Electoral Commission N40bn (formerly N40bn) National Human Rights Commission N5bn (formerly N5bn), North East Development Commission N131.84bn (formerly N126.94bn), Basic Healthcare Provision Fund N131.52bn (formerly N125.74bn), and National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure N131.52bn (formerly N125.74bn).

Unlike before when the National Assembly did not give a breakdown of its budget, the new document gave details of the budget.

The budget details of the country’s law-making arms include the National Assembly Office (N36.73bn), Senate (N49.15bn), House of Representatives (N78.63bn), National Assembly Service Commission (N12.33bn), Legislatives Aides (N20.39bn), PAC – Senate (N130m), PAC – House of Representatives (N150m), General Services (N30.81bn).

National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (N9.01bn), Service-Wide-Vote (N15.19bn), Office of Retired Clerks and Perm. Secretaries (N1.23bn), Appropriation Committee Department – Senate (N200m), Appropriation Committee Department – House (N200m), NASS Library Complex (Take-Off Grant) (N12.12bn), Procurement of Books for the NASS Library (N3bn), NASS Liabilities (N9.90bn), Constitution Review (N1bn), Completion of NILDS HQ (N4.5bn), Construction of NASC building (Ongoing) (N10bn).

Alternative Power Supply (Solar Power System) (N4bn), NASS Zonal Liaison Offices (N3bn), NASS Pension Board (Take-Off Grant) (N2.5bn), NASS Car Park Project – Senate (N3bn), NASS Car Park Project – House of Representatives (N3bn), NASS Hospital Project (N15bn), NASS Recreation Centre (N4bn), Furnishing of Committee Meeting Rooms & other Offices within the Senate Building (N2.7bn).

Furnishing of Committee Meeting Rooms for House Representatives Building Part I & II (N3bn), Upgrade of NASS Key Infrastructures (N3bn) Design, Construction, Furnishing and Equipping of NASS Ultramodern Printing Press (N3bn), Design, Construction, Furnishing and Equipping of the National Assembly Budget and Research Office (NABRO) (N4bn).

The new legislative budget is more than what NASS got between 2011 to 2014. A recent The PUNCH report revealed that the country would have spent over N1.79tn on the National Assembly in 13 years by the end of 2023.

The breakdown of the budgets was as follows, 2011 to 2014, N150bn; 2015, N115bn; 2016, N125bn; 2017, N125; 2018, N139.5bn; 2019, 125bn; 2020, N128bn; 2021, N134bn; 2022, N139bn; and N169bn proposed for 2023.