ifihearam: This useless mark and tambuwal thinks its business as usual,well Mr president i salute your presidential humility,in a bid to succeed you must swallow certain arrogance from nonentities like mark and his cohorts. if the budget is presented late they will complain,now the president has decided to present it early enough for him to kick start his good plans for Nigerians,you tagged it MERE figures and you called yourselves rubber stamps.
Mark is a very stupid man. but that will not deter us from doing that which we were elected for.
Ride on your excellency,no matter what we face we shall triumph

The national assembly have not proven themselves worth the salt neither has the President ever. We must have cautious optimism or else the disappointment would be even more devastating. We are surely good at putting figures together, if the President implements truthfully and transparently with the interest of Nigerians in mind then we can celebrate - but not now.

Early or late presentation is not the problem.Implementation is the issue.Many Nigerians dont believe all those stories called budget.

thelastPope:

The greatest scandals? But none of it has GEJs name on it do they? Hasn't it occured to you that it is a plus to GEJ? Because these things have been going on for decades and only gets swept under the carpet! But now everyone is getting indicted everywhere! Hmmm! That tells me there is a lot of transparency now and GEJ is not covering for anyone like OBJ and even Yaradua covered for his friends. Do you know how tight is it to steal money now in Abuja? Of course Nigerians will always find ways around it because the whole system and people are very corrupt but the old order of just collect money and pocket it is gone.

sorry i am only allowed to like once but just know you have a 1,000,000 likes from me for this post.

Demdem:

It seems to me that u cant spot the difference between Constituent Allowance (which i understand they collect) and Constituency project allowance which i doubt if any of such exist
here lies the ignorance.

You are irredeemable. Do you understand the use of word semantics more than any other folks on this forum ? Either way It is put, the meaning are the same , so stop deceiving yourself and admit to your ignorance.
Before you resume mouth running let me tell you that your constituent allawance is meant for constituency projects.

Elueme: You are irredeemable. Do you understand the use of word semantics more than any other folks on this forum ? Either way It is put, the meaning are the same , so stop deceiving yourself and admit to your ignorance.
Before you resume mouth running let me tell you that your constituent allawance is meant for constituency projects.

Haaaaaaaaaaaa! It is not good to lie O. I asked you guys for proof you didn't bring any. Yet, you keep making unfounded allegations. Fear God!

There Is Nothing Like Constituency Allowance —Senate Leader

Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, a third-term member of the upper chamber of the National Assembly, in this interview with Regional Editor, Olawale Rasheed, speaks on issues bordering on the image of the legislature and the country. Excerpts:

What is your sincere assessment of the seventh National Assembly, one year on?
Let me be specific on the Senate; it is where I have the statistics and record. It has been another year of stability. If you look at the history of the Senate from 1999 to the sixth Senate, we always took off on a note of instability. It was only with the sixth Senate, with the coming of David Mark, that we took off on a note of stability and ended on a note of stability. We have, again, in the seventh Senate taken off on a note of stability. The implication is that the Senate as an institution is maturing.

In the last one year, we have passed at least 24 bills, which is the highest number ever passed within the same time frame.

We have 126 bills or thereabout under processing which, again, is the highest number. We have taken about 46 or 48 motions, again, the highest number within that period. It shows that as we mature, our systems get more productive and efficient. We still have constraints, the major one being in the area of capacity. The constraints are historical because for the many years that we had military rule, the legislature didn’t have the opportunity of a regular growth. We didn’t have the opportunities the other arms of government had because with or without the military, the executive and the judiciary existed.

This has affected our capacity, but we are trying to catch up with the stability that we now have.

We also had a challenge in the hostile public perception of the legislature, which is a consequence of long years of military rule.

We were under military rule for about 30 years in this country. This means that for 30 out of our 52 years of independence, the parliament did not exist and the country continued. For 30 years, Nigerians had lived without the parliament. Now, the implication is that if anything goes wrong in the system, the public would blame the parliament.

Talking about the hostile public perception of the legislature, I will give you two instances. The first is the notion that the National Assembly is responsible for the country’s woes. Our annual budget is N150 billion, and the national budget is N4 trillion.

This means that our budget is about three per cent of the national budget. That includes recurrent and capital and salaries of members of the National Assembly and their aides; it includes the salaries of the civil servants working in the National Assembly Service Commission; it includes our subscription to international parliamentary organisation and it includes the National Legislative Institute.

Now, N150 billion is about 10 per cent of what is alleged to be spent on fuel subsidy. The National Assembly’s budget is about three per cent of the national budget. This means that our ‘opportunity’ for corruption is three per cent. But that three per cent is the focus of everything that has gone wrong. Nobody is talking about where the other 97 per cent is domiciled.

Secondly, we hear about the jumbo pay. I have kept a file of my pay slips from the day I came to the National Assembly. I am operating from an office. I have staffers. What I am doing here is official. So, if I am given N10,000 to buy stationery, the same amount that is given in the executive or judiciary, while in the executive or judiciary theirs is for stationery, my own N10,000 is allowance. For the executive and judiciary, money to travel for official duty is travel allowance, but when it comes to legislature, it becomes part of my jumbo pay.

Recently, I was at a funeral service where the preacher was talking about what some of us do with what they call constituency allowance and what others don’t do with it. That issue has been in the public domain, but I am not aware of any constituency allowance. I don’t earn constituency allowance because there is no such thing. But this was coming from a knowledgeable and believable Nigerian, a preacher. The point is that there is no such thing as constituency allowance, but the public has its own perception of us, and with the kind of money they say we earn, there should not be a poor former senator. But I challenge Nigerians to show me a rich former senator!

You have talked about the achievements in the number of bills, what is the performance on oversight.
I have talked about capacity and the implications of the status of our capacity is far reaching. Let me use the budgetary process as an example. You use indexes and parameters for budgeting. The indexes and parameters we use are the ones referred to us by the executive. We have not yet developed an independent capacity to generate our own indexes and parameters like the United States legislature has the congressional budget office. We have not got there yet, we are working towards it. We have issues with oversight because the people you are over-sighting are the ones you are depending on for the inputs that you use. So, there are problems. But what I have noticed with my time here in the National Assembly is that as an institution matures, you begin to find ways around some of these issues.

People talk about corruption in the National Assembly. The Senate has 54 standing committees — I am not talking of ad-hoc committees. If there has been any hint of corruption, it is perhaps one committee out of 54. But the notion is that it is a pervasive thing. It is so bad that every member of the National Assembly is perceived as a thief. I remember in my first term in the legislature, I was taking my son to school and there was this radio programme that was painting all of us in the National Assembly as rogues, brigands and thieves. I was driving and I noticed that my 16-year-old son with me in the car kept shifting on his seat trying to stay away from me. I asked him why he was shifting; ‘you are believing this story on the radio?’ He asked me: ‘is it not true?’ But obviously, that is not true.

I go to church sometimes, and they preach against politicians. But at the end of it, when they want to roof the church building, it is the same politicians they will come to. We keep saying that we too are searching for salvation. In spite of the hostile perception of the public of us, we hope to go to heaven. We are also seeking the face of God like any other person. I am a Catholic. I carry my rosary in my pocket all the time. I am like any other person searching for salvation. Most of my colleagues are equally patriotic citizens struggling to offer their best to the country.

You find some legislators showcasing certain capital projects as part of their achievents in spite of the prior claim that there is nothing like constituency project. Who then do we blame for the impression that there is so much money in the National Assembly?
I give scholarships, and I started doing so since 1980, even before I came to the National Assembly. I have professors today on my scholarship. I bought cars for some of my constituents, but it is not from any ‘constituency allowance’. Now, let me say here that every project is a constituency project because it is in somebody’s constituency. What I am saying categorically that does not exist is the one they call ‘constituency allowance’.

Let me tell you how the constituency projects operate. There is an office in the presidency called the MDG Office. That office is headed by a senior special assistant to the president. That office may come up with parameters to intervene in six primary schools or 12 health centers or we want to sink 30 boreholes in Cross River Central Senatorial District, this is my senatorial district and I represent it. The MDG office would send me a form and ask me to indicate where the projects should be cited. I would now consult my colleagues in the House of Representatives from my senatorial district and ask where and where they are also siting projects so that we don’t duplicate. Afterwards, I fill the form, site the school intervention in so and so place, health centre and borehole, as the case may be, and I sign and retun the form to the committee on MDG, who would now compile and forward to the MDG office in the presidency. The MDG office does the award of the contract for the projects. We have no hands in the award of those projects even though you influence where it is sited. And I say again very categorically that there is nothing like constituency allowance.

http://tribune.com.ng/sat/index.php/interview/7676-there-is-nothing-like-constituency-allowance-senate-leader.html

I have to go now, until I return- be good!

Ndoma Egbe influenced everything from the nature of project, the place it should be sited, the number of projects etc, but cannot influence or decide who handles the project. Which kind olodo we get for here? una wan make him spell am? I just dey laugh

@Demdem
Kindly take a look at this and throw more light:

House okays N38.8bn jumbo allowance for members

•Each Rep now on N27m per quarter

The quarterly allowance of members of the House of Representatives has hit the N27million mark.
It used to be N15million per Representative

This translates to an 80% increase and an additional N9.720billion strain on public purse every quarter or N38.88billion per year.

The House leadership had been under severe pressure from members to review the allowance meant for running their oversight functions.

The leadership was said to have succumbed to the pressure with a view to insulating members from temptation from the Ministries, Departments and Agencies(MDAs) in the course of performing their oversight functions.

The quarterly allowance is just one of the several enjoyed by the Reps and Senators.
Other benefits and allowances, as approved by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) are salaries, vehicle maintenance and fuelling, Personal Assistant, house maintenance, entertainment, utilities, [b]constituency allowance, hardship allowance, vehicle loan, duty tour and estacode (where applicable).
Only last year, the House requested Camry cars for the oversight functions of its 360 members costing a total of N2.5billion.
The increase in the quarterly allowance of the Reps is bound to raise questions following the recent decision by President Goodluck Jonathan to cut the emolument of public officers.
It was gathered that the Reps launched their bid for the secret increase in the aftermath of the belt tightening measures put in place by the Speaker of the House Aminu Tambuwal.

At an executive session last month the Reps had queried why their predecessors in the sixth National Assembly earned N42 million per quarter as against the N15million they were receiving.
Some of them were also alleged to have asked the Speaker why Senators are on about N45 million quarterly allowance.

They said they could not understand what was described as “the yawning gap” between House quarterly allowance and Senate’s.
A reliable source said: “Members actually wanted a reversion to the old rate of N42 million per quarter but Tambuwal rejected the move in view of the financial challenges facing the House.

“The Speaker also claimed that the leadership would prefer a low rate allowance in line with its ongoing reforms.

“After a stormy session, the House leadership sensed that a revolt was in the offing and it had to go back to the drawing board.
“After consultations, Tambuwal announced an increase of N12million in the quarterly allowance of members. So, they will now earn N27million per quarter.

“If Tambuwal had not increased the quarterly allowance, I doubt if he would still be in office by now.
“Also, the House leadership decided to bow to members’ demand to insulate them from being influenced by MDAs during oversight functions. We do not want members to function at the mercy of MDAs, we felt we should avoid recourse to bribery.

It was however gathered that the increase was effected secretly to avoid backlash from the public.
“We did not make noise about the increase because of perception. Our quarterly allowance is short of what the Sixth House of Representatives got but before you know it, we will be the butt of attack.

“Nigerians do not pay attention to the allowances of the Executive and the Judiciary. Out of the N4.8billion budget passed on Thursday, the National Assembly’s share is about N150 to N200billion. What fraction of the budget is that? Yet, we are always the sacrificial lambs,” the source added.

Investigation showed that the payment of the additional N12million quarterly allowance was effected last week by the House leadership.
A member of the House said: “Yes, we have started receiving the increase, it is left to us to use it judiciously because we have a busy calendar.”
It could not be ascertained at press time whether the House leadership put the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) into confidence on the increase in the allowances.

Section 32 of Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 constitution empowers only the RMAFC to either enhance or cut salaries of political office holders, legislators and the judiciary.

The section reads: “The Commission shall have power to (a) monitor the accruals to and disbursement of revenue from the Federation Account; (b) review from time to time, the revenue allocation formulae and principles in operation to ensure conformity with changing realities…
“(d) Determine the remuneration appropriate for political office holders, including the President, Vice-President, Governors, Deputy Governors, Ministers, Commissioners, Special Advisers, legislators and the holders of the offices mentioned in sections 84 and 124 of this Constitution.”
But the Executive arm was said to have got wind of the secret increase in spite of the directive of President Goodluck Jonathan to effect 25 per cent pay cut.

A presidency source said: “The Executive has got wind of the increase but the truth is that it will not guarantee any loan to pay any allowance. And any chamber that overshoots its budget will be on its own.

“It is also left to RMAFC to join issue with the House on the appropriateness.”
Jonathan had, in January, announced the pay cut in the salaries of political office holders.

Another member of the House said: “We are not political office holders; we are elected members of the National Assembly. So, Jonathan’s directive is not binding on us, it applies to only the Executive.

“During the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, he announced a similar pay cut but the Judiciary wrote to RMAFC to be exempted from the exercise. The directive did not affect the Judiciary accordingly.

“The quarterly allowance is a statutory benefit of members of the National Assembly because it is within our budget plans. It is not as if any lawmaker is stealing money.”

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/40171-house-okays-n38-8bn-jumbo-allowance-for-members.html

I just need to know what this quarterly allowance is meant for.

Most times I refrain from commenting on threads here in nairaland cos loonies have long since taken control of the institution,but I do feel this misconception of what constituency allowance is firms up in the minds of the ignorant. CONSTITUENCY ALLOWANCE refers to constitutionally appropriated funds meant for the staffing and running of a legislator's office in the constituency he/she represents.This is a widely accepted norm world over,Nigerian legislators being no exception.Of course,in our own case some legislators might have cut corners viz understaffing their office,renting a substandard office and whatnot,but that doesn't mean the money is made available for their personal use and the executive certainly have no powers to grant or withhold such funds.
Coming to the issue of CONSTITUENCY PROJECTS,these are localised projects which legislators put into the annual budgets for their various constituencies to make them feel the impact/presence of the Federal govt in those constituencies.They are known as 'Pork' projects in the United States.As I understand it,during the Obasanjo administration the monies were given to the various legislators to go execute the projects on their own,but that practice was stopped by Yar'Adua.Those projects are now captured in the budget and executed by relevant govt ministry or agency.
To sum up this epistle,constituency allowance is backed by law,meant for the running of a legislator's office while constituency projects,tho they may be backed by law,are meant to show the presence of the fg in various constituencies.Properly executed,they even make the govt (read executive ) look good in the eyes of the electorate

killuminati: hahahaha, make e go choorrlu for aluu abi?
Guy you wicked Ooo!

no mind d guy! Aalu mobs are stil there ,he can invite them to himself.

pokur: Most times I refrain from commenting on threads here in nairaland cos loonies have long since taken control of the institution,but I do feel this misconception of what constituency allowance is firms up in the minds of the ignorant. CONSTITUENCY ALLOWANCE refers to constitutionally appropriated funds meant for the staffing and running of a legislator's office in the constituency he/she represents.This is a widely accepted norm world over,Nigerian legislators being no exception.Of course,in our own case some legislators might have cut corners viz understaffing their office,renting a substandard office and whatnot,but that doesn't mean the money is made available for their personal use and the executive certainly have no powers to grant or withhold such funds.
Coming to the issue of CONSTITUENCY PROJECTS,these are localised projects which legislators put into the annual budgets for their various constituencies to make them feel the impact/presence of the Federal govt in those constituencies.They are known as 'Pork' projects in the United States.As I understand it,during the Obasanjo administration the monies were given to the various legislators to go execute the projects on their own,but that practice was stopped by Yar'Adua.Those projects are now captured in the budget and executed by relevant govt ministry or agency.
To sum up this epistle,constituency allowance is backed by law,meant for the running of a legislator's office while constituency projects,tho they may be backed by law,are meant to show the presence of the fg in various constituencies.Properly executed,they even make the govt (read executive ) look good in the eyes of the electorate

You have captured it. If anybody should really be benefitting from implementation of constituency projects, it's the Executive because it makes them look good. Legislators can influence the project but not execute it. What most people don't get is that most monies received by Legislators as allowances are backed by law. Whether they are on the high side is a different matter. All of these do not in anyway remove the validity of Hon. Tambuwal's points or the legislative and oversight functions/powers of the legislators as sycophants and ignorants want us to believe.

It is d slow poke that need 2 appologise 2 nigerians wetin happen 2 2012 budget have they finish implementing it where are d projects dey used budget for,let them come & tell us what & what dey did with dis yr budget,so that elede' called okuppe still nver resign in shame,he is watin to dip his dirty paw into govt.treasury again ,kai naija don suffer

Demdem:

if at all there is any such thing then i suppose its basically for their offices (maintenance and staffs upkeep) which they are expected to have in their various constituencies (many of them dont sha). NASS should be stopped from personally executing projects

Frankc, this post of mine from the second page of this thread should help out coupled with what posters above me now av stated. The truth is the executives in my opinion are the main beneficiaries in the constituencies.
The amount for each of them as regards allowance is too much and should be condemned because its not for executing projects.

Idokojimmy: This is a perfect budget, and as well meaning Nigerians, we expect the NASS to deliberate and pass it immediately. The era of passing budget 5months into a new year and expecting 100% execution within 4months is over. Budget must be passed on time, to give way for speedy completion. GEJ and his team must be commended for the timely presentation. He has done his part, the legislators should do theirs.

On what basis is it a perfect budget? What are you exact reasons? Have you seen the breakdown?

Do you know that the proposal is to feed Jonathan and Sambo with almost N1billion in 2013?
Do you know that the gas to cook Jonathan's food will cost over N13million?

Do you know that Jonathan, Sambo and Anyim want to spend about N1.6billion on welfare packages in 2013?

@Mr. Latunji
Have any of those senators or reps ever publicly admitted how much they collect as allowances, never, it is a closely guarded secret among them, the CBN governor said publicly from FIGURES that national assembly comsumes the highest chunk in our budget.
Will anyone ever publicly accept a wrong among our public office holders in Nigeria.

Omo_Tier1:
Stop deceiving yourself. Budgeting is never Nigeria's problem. IMPLEMENTATION. .simples. The present government led by GEJ does not have the capacity to implement budgets and is a governmrnt of rogues and paddy paddy chop I chop rob belle awuf government. How do expect a Trainee President to be able to implement a technical budget?

Budget needs to be passed by the national assembly early enough to enable the executiive carry out their obligated functions by enforcing its execution within the fiscal duration .
I think he has done really well by presenting 2013 budget before the national assembly , that will give the legislatures enough time for in-depth scrutination before its passage into law.
Let's hope that the 2013 fiscal year will commence by January 2013.

luvinhubby: @Mr. Latunji
Have any of those senators or reps ever publicly admitted how much they collect as allowances, never, it is a closely guarded secret among them, the CBN governor said publicly from FIGURES that national assembly comsumes the highest chunk in our budget.
Will anyone ever publicly accept a wrong among our public office holders in Nigeria.

Well, if the constitution says that is what they should get, you can't blame them. Rather, we should seek ammendments if your assertion proves to be true. Like I said before this does not in anyway undermine their powers of oversight over the Executive .

If the National Assembly is crippling Nigeria as you suggest, why has GEJ not spoken out? My brother, you guys are clutching at straws here.

Vogue50: Budget needs to be passed by the national assembly early enough to enable the executiive carry out their obligated functions by enforcing its execution within the fiscal duration .
I think he has done really well by presenting 2013 budget before the national assembly , that will give the legislatures enough time for in-depth scrutination before its passage into law.
Let's hope that the 2013 fiscal year will commence by January 2013.

Only 35% of 2012 budget is implemented and the legislators were capping for the executives! It will be the same next year. The Presidential handlers are making him look like cry baby. His incompetence is glaringly clear and yet he is complaining of unfair comments from discerning Nigerians .

nagoma:

Only 35% of 2012 budget is implemented and the legislators were capping for the executives! It will be the same next year. The Presidential handlers are making him look like cry baby. His incompetence is glaringly clear and yet he is complaining of unfair comments from discerning Nigerians .

it's been like 6months now that the budget was passed , no body expects 80percent budget implementation by October .
In the interest of our great country , the executive and legislative arm should not be at loggerHead over budget implementation.

nagoma:

Only 35% of 2012 budget is implemented and the legislators were capping for the executives! It will be the same next year. The Presidential handlers are making him look like cry baby. His incompetence is glaringly clear and yet he is complaining of unfair comments from discerning Nigerians .

if 2013 fiscal year should commence by January , i believe that there will be a rapid development compared to that of 2012.
The executive will now have 12months to fully implement the budget.