- The recent controversy concerning the costs of maintaining federal legislative bodies is still on
- The Conference of National Assembly Legislative Aides (CONASSLA) have joined the debate
- They have challenged the executive arm of government to disclose their running costs in the interest of full transparency
The Conference of National Assembly Legislative Aides (CONASSLA), a forum of current and former aides to members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, has called on the executive arm of government to immediately disclose to the Nigerian people how much the president, vice-president, wife of the president, ministers and heads of ggencies and parastatals of the Federal Government receive in official running costs.
The forum made the request in a statement sent to NAIJ.com on Friday, April 6 signed by its chairman, Abdullahi Almustapha and secretary, Funmi Oyekan.
The earnings of members of the Federal Executive Council has been shrouded in mystery. Photo credit: State House
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According to the forum, “this request stems from openness of the National Assembly in recent times, with the disclosure of the running costs of senators and the inexplicable 2018 budgetary provisions that show that the president alone, has budgeted over N900million for the running costs of his cars in 2018; the National Security Adviser has budgeted over N1.14billion for the cleaning of his office in 2018; and the minister of transport, has budgeted N10billion for his transportation vehicles in 2018.
“These figures, when combined with the fact that the Directorate of State Security intends on spending over N2.2billion on social media running costs, and the Minister of Communication, has owned up to receiving $800,000 in estacode, begs the question: 'How much does the executive spend in running costs?'”
The forum, therefore, challenged the executive to publish the full list of running costs of all the offices and individuals within its purview within 7 days.
“Failure to do this will be an infringement on the trust of the Nigerian people who elected this government to office to curb excessive spending and official largesse by public office holders,” the forum said.
Meanwhile, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO), Working Group on Peace and Good Governance, has urged the federal government to direct the anti-corruption fight at institutions and sources to properly tame the scourge.
One of the conveners of the group, Professor Jibrin Ibrahim, made the call in Abuja on Thursday, April 5 at the CSO’s 'Leaders’ Conference' organised in conjunction with Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre.
“Corruption is not being tackled adequately because the Federal Government’s understanding of corruption is skewed in the direction of politically-exposed people. The government has not turned its attention to institutional corruption which paralyses institutions and undermines their delivery,’’ he said.
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Source: Naija.ng