Disclose N’Assembly’s Running Cost or Face Legal Act, SERAP Tells Akpabio, Abbas

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has urged the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, to disclose the “exact amount of monthly running costs” allotted to members of the National Assembly.
SERAP requested the spending details of any of such running costs as well.

This information was made known in a statement signed by the Deputy Director of SERAP, Kolawole Oluwadare.
The group’s demand came on the heels of the recent controversy surrounding the salary of senators.
A former Senator representing Kaduna Central, Senator Shehu Sani, had stated that Senators receive over N13 million monthly, but the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission faulted his claim.

SERAP urged the NASS leadership to “promptly end the alleged practice by the National Assembly of fixing its own salaries, allowances and running costs, in conformity with the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended), and the country’s international obligations.”

It also called them “to end the alleged practice of paying running costs into the personal accounts of lawmakers, and to refer the alleged misuse or mismanagement of the running costs to appropriate anticorruption agencies for investigation and prosecution where there is relevant admissible evidence.”

The statement also urged the NASS leadership to “promptly disclose the total amount of running costs that have so far been paid to and received by the lawmakers and to ensure the return of any misused or mismanaged public funds.”
“We are concerned about the practice by the lawmakers of fixing their salaries, allowances, and running costs, as well as the opacity and the spending of millions of naira in running costs by lawmakers.”