The National Assembly’s budget has not always been a “top” secret document. The details of the budget was always part of the national budget until 2010, when in their own wisdom, they decided to take it behind a curtain. So while the budget of the presidency, the ministries and agencies can be scrutinized, that of the national assembly has remained hidden. But Nigerians are increasingly getting interested in how their government runs and so the pressure is now on them to open it up.
So I decided to take a peep into what the national assembly’s budget used to be like when it was an open document. This meant going back to the 2009 budget, which is still available on the website of the budget office of the federation as at Friday, 14 April 2017.
In 2009, the total budget allocation to the national assembly was approximately N106.64 billion, which is just about N9 billion less than the N115 billion they have been allocated in the yet to be passed 2017 budget. This means that expenditure allocations are likely to be similar in both years, if and when the national assembly decides to make its budget public as they have repeatedly promised.
In the 2009 budget, the national assembly office got allocated N8.32 billion. I am not too sure what the national assembly office does but I guess they should be the administrative arm of the national assembly.
Some of the top expenditure items in the national assembly office include personnel cost of N2.93 billion, of which N1.94 billion is for salaries and wages. Another N726 million was budgeted for “non-regular allowances” for the national assembly office while N4.38 billion was set aside for “total goods and non-personal services” which include, local and international travels, electricity and utility charges, and internet charges among others.
There was also “miscellaneous expenses” of N239 million and “other miscellaneous expenses” of N689 million as well as N1 billion for capital projects, which included N200 million for purchase of utility vehicles for presiding and principal officers.
Also in the 2009 budget, the 109-member Senate’s allocation stood at N29.8 billion. Of this amount, N19.8 billion was allocated as “total personnel cost” with N1.86 billion of this amount earmarked as “salaries and allowances” which will come to an average of N17 million per senator.
The senate also had N120 million budgeted as “benefits and allowances” which is an average of N1.1 million per senator. This means, based on the 2009 budget, a senator should go home with an average N18 million per annum, which includes his or her salaries and allowances.
But the bulk of the Senate’s budget allocation went to “goods and non-personnel services” which was allocated N26.8 billion. Under this allocation, N5.76 billion was allocated for local travels and international travels, another N640 million for local and international travels for the purpose of training and N4.48 billion for “material and supplies” which includes N2.1 billion for “office materials and supplies.”
A “controversial” N1.26 billion was budgeted as “security votes” for the senate and N2.14 billion for “consulting and professional services.”
Still under the Senate’s allocation, was N1.69 billion budgeted as “miscellaneous expenditure” which includes N1.16 billion for “refreshment and meals.” This is besides the N8.26 billion budget for “other miscellaneous expenses” with N3.36 billion of this amount budgeted for the “senate’s programmed activities.”
The lower House of Representatives had the bigger allocation in the 2009 budget. The 360- member house got a total budget allocation of N49.15 billion. Allocation for salaries and wages stood at N4.92 billion, which comes to average of N13.7 million per rep, or an average of N1.14 million per month.
There was no allocation for benefits and allowances for members of the house of reps but there was a generous provision of N19.8 billion for local and international travels for members, which is different from another N675 million for local and international travels for the purpose of training.
For materials and supplies, the house got an allocation of N3.29 billion, N4.03 billion for “miscellaneous expenses” which includes N1.32 billion as provision for “refreshment and meals” and N2 billion for “honorarium and sitting allowance payments.”
The house also got N10.91 billion allocation as “other miscellaneous expenses” which included; N3.68 billion for “committee activities and public hearings,” N1.25 billion for “house admin,” N1.5 billion for “house chamber” and N2 billion for “contingency” and another N1.95 billion for “house programmed activities” which I assume is different from “committee activities and public hearing” which was earlier allocated N3.68 billion.
The 2009 budget also shows that the National Assembly service commission was allocated N13.7 billion, legislative aides N5.49 billion, senate committee on public accounts, N120 million and house committee on public accounts N130 million.
The above figures are from the 2009 budget. It is not clear how much the national assembly budget has changed since 2009 when they last made the details of their budget public. If they decide to fulfil their promise of making their budget public now, I would suggest that they make not only the 2017 budget details public but also all the past budgets from 2010 to date.
But it is also important that all arms of government, from the local government level to the presidency, should consider it mandatory that they make their budgets and actual expenditure public. The fight against corruption can only be won when transparency in all levels of governance is institutionalised.
Anthony Osae Brown
