Amid the prevailing high cost-of-living crisis in the country, the National Assembly and four other Ministries, Departments, and Agencies of the Federal Government have received a combined sum of N109bn as statutory allocations in the first few days of August 2024, an investigation by Saturday PUNCH has shown.

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Recall that the National Assembly raised its 2024 budgetary allocation from N197.93bn to N344.85bn, the highest-ever budgetary allocation in the history of the legislative assembly.

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In the 2024 Appropriation Bill, the federal assembly raised statutory transfers (i.e., funding to the National Judicial Council, Niger Delta Development Commission, Universal Basic Education Commission, National Assembly, Public Complaints Commission, Independent National Electoral Commission, National Human Rights Commission, North-East Development Commission, Basic Healthcare Provision Fund, and National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure) from N1.38tn to N1.74tn.

This is according to data from a document titled ‘House of Representatives Federal Republic of Nigeria Order Paper’, dated Saturday, December 30th, 2023.

According to the document, some changes in statutory allocations are National Judicial Council N341.63bn (formerly N165bn), Niger Delta Development Commission N338.93bn (formerly N324.85bn), Universal Basic Education Commission N263.04bn (formerly N251.47bn), National Assembly N344.85bn (formerly N197.93bn), and the Public Complaints Commission N14.46bn (formerly N13.69bn).

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Others are the Independent National Electoral Commission N40bn (formerly N40bn), National Human Rights Commission N5bn (formerly N5bn), North-East Development Commission N131.84bn (formerly N126.94bn), Basic Healthcare Provision Fund N131.52bn (formerly N125.74bn), and National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure N131.52bn (formerly N125.74bn).

Further budget analysis showed that the federal assembly, the 36 state assemblies of the federation, and their agencies will spend about N724bn this year. It also showed that the salaries and allowances for the federal and state lawmakers would cost the country about N50bn this year.

As revealed in a document obtained from the website of the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission, the 109 members of the Senate will receive N8.67bn in salaries and allowances, while 360 members in the green chamber will receive N24.43bn in salaries and allowances.

The disclosed allowances include constituency allowance (250 percent of the basic annual salary), duty tour allowance (N50,000 per night), estacode ($1,300 per night), recess (10 percent of the basic annual salary), and severance gratuity (300 percent of the basic annual salary).

The allowances of the Senate President will amount to about N33.29m, which includes a N6.21m annual constituency allowance, N248,424.25 annual recess allowance, and N7.45m for severance gratuity, which is paid at the end of the tenure.

However, checks by our correspondent using GovSpend, a civic tech platform that tracks and analyses the Federal Government’s spending, showed that the National Assembly, National Judicial Council, Niger Delta Development Commission, Universal Basic Education Commission, and the Federal Ministry of Works have received a total of N109bn from the government between August 2 and August 4, 2024.

On Sunday, August 4, 2024, the management of the National Assembly received the sum of N28,737,740,055, the NJC received N28,468,811,603, the NDDC was paid N28,243,727,736, and the UBEC received N21,920,295,937.

Last Friday, August 2, 2024, the Ministry of Works paid a firm identified as Apex Global Trend Concept Nigeria Ltd the sum of N612,093,023 as part of the payment for the pension and installation of solar streetlights in selected federal constituencies in the six geopolitical zones.

On the same day, the ministry paid the sum of N561,297,860 to Brighttech Resources Ltd as part of the payment for the reinstatement of the two washout and discharge drainage systems along Jatau-Fugar Road in Edo State.

The ministry also paid the sum of N637,348,837 to Nasamu Ultimate Concerns Ltd last Friday as part of the payment for the rehabilitation of Otokutu Bridge along NPA-DSC Road in Delta State.

Speaking with SUNDAY PUNCH, the Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, said that until the country formulates a new constitution that regulates public spending, profligacy will continue to exist within the government.

“We cannot say the amount is on the high side until we know the breakdown of the budget that culminated in the release of the amount. We all know that up until now, there is so much profligacy in government. And until we have a new constitution that regulates government spending and places the duty to oversee functions and supervise how money is released and spent, we will still be battling with the problem.”