Reps, el Rufai’s spat over salary, security vote deepens

.Lawmakers accuse Kaduna gov of cheap blackmail, propaganda

. Say ‘You didn’t publish security vote but state security budget’

The war of words between the House of Representatives and the Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, over their emoluments and huge security expenditure deepened on Tuesday, with the House accusing the governor of cheap blackmail and engaging in propaganda in an attempt to ridicule the legislature.

This is even as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, on Tuesday, released his six months’ pay slips from October, 2016 to March, 2017 to the public.

Briefing House correspondents in Abuja on Tuesday, the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Rep. Abdulrazaq Namdas, said that the budget of the National Assembly was not opaque.

According to the House member from Adamawa State, since 2010 when the constitution was amended and the National Assembly was placed on the first line charge, its budget became part of statutory transfers, together with the judiciary, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and others.

“You cannot find details of the Budget of the Judiciary and INEC in the national budget. It exists elsewhere. Of course, from 1999 to 2010, the details of the National Assembly budget was contained in the national budget.

“The leadership of the National Assembly has already directed the clerk to the National Assembly to publish details of the national Assembly budget from 2017 and so to continue to repeat the same call made three days earlier smacks of propaganda and cheap blackmail,” he said.

Namdas recalled that Speaker Yakubu Dogara had on April 7, 2017 in response to calls by Governor el-Rufai disclosed that the leadership of the National Assembly had directed the bureaucracy and all other agencies under the National Assembly to make available details of their annual budgets beginning from the 2017 budget which is still under consideration.

Responding to el- Rufa’i challenge, asking the lawmakers to disclose their budget, having made his salary and budget public, the House said its budget covers, among others, salaries, allowances, expenditure and running cost of 469 members, salaries, allowances of about 3,000 Legislative Aides and salaries, allowances, equipment and maintenance of about 5000 staff in the Bureaucracy of the National Assembly.

Namdas reiterated the challenge by the speaker for Governor el-Rufai, who is known for his consistent advocacy for openness in the budget of the National Assembly, to, in the spirit of good governance, transparency and accountability extend his campaign to other arms and tiers of government in the country.

Such disclosure he averred, would lead to full disclosure by state governors on the expenditure profile of their security votes and what they do with local government funds.

Reacting to details of what the Kaduna State governor released as his security vote, the House committee chairman said that what the governor allegedly published was the security budget of the entire state as against his security vote expenditure as demanded by the speaker.

“The Kaduna State governor chose to give headings of its budget on security related matters. Maybe he will give further details of the actual security expenditure at the appropriate time.

“He claimed that the state’s accounts have been audited. No grounds have been broken here. The response by the Kaduna state governor completely missed the point. Mr. Speaker’s call was for el-Rufai to extend the campaign for openness and transparency to other arms of government, including the governors’ expenditures on security votes and local government funds.

“He merely doubled down on his campaign on National Assembly budget leaving out the other aspects of Mr. Speaker’s request,” Namdas added.

He advised the governor to concentrate his efforts in governing Kaduna State and stop undermining and distracting the National Assembly from discharging its constitutionally assigned role.

“He launched an attack on the National Assembly on Friday, 7th April, 2017 and continued on Monday, 10th April 2017. We are aware that there are serious security issues he should be grappling with in Southern Kaduna and other governmental issues facing him.

“He should not give the impression that he has no challenging work to do in Kaduna state. These attacks are coming on the heels of his now famous letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, where he made strenuous effort to undermine his government, by openly lampooning him when he has unhindered access to Mr. President.

“As a senior citizen, he has a responsibility not to unnecessarily overheat the polity with tendentious and unfounded outbursts,” he said.

Continuing, Rep. Namdas disputed claims by the governor that in 2016, the National Assembly budget for its 469 members was larger than the entire budget of several states, saying that such a claim is “patently misleading and a terrible display of ignorance and falsehood or a deliberate attempt to blackmail the parliament.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the National Assembly’s budget includes the salaries, allowances, expenditure and running cost of 469 members. It includes the salaries, allowances of about 3,000 legislative aides; it includes the salaries, allowances, equipment and maintenance of about 5, 000 staff in the bureaucracy of the National Assembly.

“The National Assembly has agencies too. The National Assembly Service Commission has a staff strength of about 500. The National Institute for Legislative Studies is also a parastatal of the National Assembly that serves as a legislative think-tank and a highly rated academic institution, which serves not only the National Assembly but also state Houses of Assembly.

“el-Rufai’s mischievous publication carefully ignores the fact that the bureaucracy of the National Assembly and its agencies and 469 members need travel and transport support. They require medical attention, offices, equipment and all the support available to others in the public service.

“el-Rufai conveniently forgot that the National Assembly has buildings to build and maintain. He discountenanced the need for training and re-training of staff and even capacity building for members. The narrative is such that he excludes the need for National Assembly members and bureaucracy to attend conferences both local and foreign.

“Some of the most critical work the National Assembly does is oversight. It costs a lot of money to conduct proper oversight of executive agencies to save money and ensure governmental efficiency for the Nigerian people.

“Public hearings by the National Assembly and its committees have become a regular feature of our democracy, because citizen engagement and consultation is cardinal for running a democratic government.

“It is most uncharitable to ignore the fact that the National Assembly is an arm of government, not a department in the executive branch. The budget of so many agencies in the executive is higher than that of National Assembly, an arm of government.

“Such agencies as NCC – N102billion; CBN – N421billion; NPA – N250billion; NIMASA – N100billion; FIRS – N146billion; Customs – N81billion and NNPC whose budget runs into trillions are some examples.

“Indeed, the National Assembly budget is about two per cent of the national budget. Yes, the National Assembly has voluntarily agreed to publish its budget from 2017, as a responsible and accountable democratic institution.
“What happens to 98 per cent of the national budget should engage our attention too. We are sure that if 10 per cent of the public scrutiny that the National Assembly receives is also devoted to those spending the other 98 per cent, Nigeria would be better for it,” he concluded.