By Milcah Tanimu
Abuja—In a statement made yesterday, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, expressed concern over the fact that the annual budget of the National Assembly has remained stagnant for 13 years, despite the challenges posed by inflation and its associated repercussions.
Speaker Tajudeen noted that during this period, the expenditure of the Federal Legislature has increased; however, the budgetary allocations have not kept pace with these rising costs.
During his welcome address following a two-month recess, the Speaker of the House of Representatives disclosed that President Bola Tinubu would soon transmit the 2023 supplementary budget to the National Assembly. This supplementary budget is anticipated to include provisions for increased salaries and allowances for public servants, aiming to mitigate the impacts of the fuel subsidy removal.
While hosting a delegation from the African Business Roundtable in Abuja, the Speaker emphasized that the National Assembly’s budget has remained static for 13 years despite escalating expenses during this period. He further elaborated that there were instances when the National Assembly’s budget even decreased from its 2011 levels.
Expanding on the efforts made to strengthen inter-parliamentary relations, Speaker Abbas informed the delegation, led by Mr. Dotun Ajayi, the Executive Director (West Africa), that the 10th House had established more than 60 parliamentary friendship committees to foster relationships with parliaments worldwide. He expressed the need for external support to enhance the effectiveness of these friendship committees and pledged the House’s commitment to any initiative that would improve relationships with other parliaments.
The Speaker highlighted the recent expansion of parliamentary friendship committees, which had grown from 43 to 65 members and now included Serbia, totaling 66 committees. He assured the delegation of the House’s dedication to promoting these engagements and envisioned this meeting as a historic moment that would be referenced in the future.
In his remarks, the leader of the delegation, Mr. Dotun Ajayi, discussed the evolving dynamics of engagements between European countries and West Africa in light of the recent coup in Niger Republic. He noted that Niger Republic had issues only with France in Europe, and the French government was contemplating cutting all forms of assistance to West Africa due to the coup. Ajayi stressed the importance of parliamentary engagement in addressing this situation, suggesting that the Nigerian Parliament should collaborate with the French Parliament and the European Union.
He also pointed out that the European Union had allocated 20 billion Euros for Sub-Saharan Africa and proposed increased engagement between the Nigerian Parliament and the EU, as well as the French Parliament, to enhance partnerships and secure greater support for Nigeria.
