The Spokesman of the House of Representatives, Mr Benjamin Kalu has stressed the urgent need for an upward review of the N128b annual budgetary allocation of the National Assembly to enable it to carry out its constitutional duties.
Mr Kalu who made the call during a briefing at the National Assembly, affirmed that National Assembly is broke.
“The House is broke and is afraid of your complains as Nigerians to make provision for what will make them run the activities of the House effectively”.
“That is why today, here is hot; that is why the hearing rooms are not fixed; that is why the house is indebted to contractors who provide one form of service or the other. This is a fact”.
According to him, the appropriation that was made for the running of the National Assembly, happened when naira was 160 to the dollar, the equivalent of which today has gone up to over N400.
The lawmaker stated that the purchasing power of the budget as it is now is weaker than it was 10 years ago, adding that the budget of the National Assembly is supposed to be reviewed, in view of its purchasing ability, of the services that will help the parliament to move forward.
(Radio Nigeria)