The National Assembly is
facing serious financial
crunch as a result of huge
debt – Sources say the debt
run into billions of naira – The debts are owed
contractors for the supply
of office facilities,
lawmakers’ vehicles, and
maintenance costs These are hard times for
Nigeria’s federal legislature as
the dwindling economy has
affected the finances of the
National Assembly. According to a report by Daily
Trust, contractors and suppliers
are grumbling over the inability
of the management of the
National Assembly to liquidate
the accumulated debts. These are not smiling times
for the leadership of the
National Asssembly These are not smiling times for
the leadership of the National
Asssembly The report stated that the
situation has forced the
management to take cost
cutting measures including
slashing of salaries of legislative
aides by about 70 percent. A source who within the
National Assembly squealed that
the management is now taking
inventory of the debt stock,
while adding that some of the
debts incurred through contracts might not have been
executed. READ ALSO: Exclusive: Buhari’s SSA opens up on rift between
executive and Senate (video) The source said: “It is a yearly
occurrence. There are huge
debts, no doubt. They’re still in
the process of compiling.” Another source said the new
clerk to the National Assembly,
Alhaji Mohammed Sani-Omolori
has demanded for the
comprehensive details of the
debts profile in order to address the situation. “You’ll be shocked if you know
the monumental corruption
taking place in the management
of the National Assembly. They
change office equipment every
year on paper, but you don’t get to see anything. “You can imagine even the
maintenance being carried out
by Julius Berger at the time
was done on credit. It was
because of the way they were
going about the whole thing that Berger backed out from
the contract of maintaining the
NASS complex. “There are a lot of things my
brother. Some of them would
raise fake vouchers just to
divert the money. Somebody
would say he has travelled to
somewhere, whereas he was in his house. “They also have ghost workers
among the NASS staff, but
because nobody probes them,
people don’t get to know. With
this kind of things, how do you
expect the country to change?” said the source. A management staff of the
National Assembly blamed the
situation on what he described
as, “irregular release of funds
by the executive arm of
government.” According to the staff who
spoke under the condition of
anonymity, unlike before when
the funds were released
quarterly, the funds are now
being released by the executive arm monthly. “Until this administration, the
National Assembly funds were
released quarterly but now the
present administration has
adopted a new style. We are
now getting our money monthly. “This is negatively affecting us
because after paying salaries of
lawmakers, their aides and
National Assembly staff, the
remaining money is hardly
enough for the day-to-day running of our operations,” he
said. READ ALSO: Revealed: How Nigeria survived before oil Confirming the situation, a top
management staff said the debt
was also affecting the
lawmakers whom he added were
not getting what they used to
get before. His words: “We are not the
only ones owing, the executive
and Judiciary owe too. Ours was
worsened by the slashing down
of our budget from N150billion
to N115 billion.” When contacted, the
spokesperson of the Senate,
Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi said he was
not aware of the huge debt. His words: “I don’t know
anything about the debt and
it’s shouldn’t be an issue.
After all, what is the total debt
stock of Nigeria? There is no
how an institution or country will not owe. The United States
is the most heavily indebted
nation. You should please
concentrate on issues that
would contribute in the
development of the country.” The submission by Nigeria’s
minister of finance, Mrs Kemi
Adeosun three weeks ago that Nigeria is “technically in
recession” came at a time the economic
indices were quite clear that
the nation’s economy was in
tatters. Two months ago, three Nigerian banks cut down on the number
of their employees. READ ALSO: FG set to borrow to fund 2016 budget, as
economist predicts long
recession Meanwhile, Fourteen (14) airlines recently withdrew their services
from Nigeria due to low patronage and the
bad economy being experienced
in the country. In a related development, four major blue-chip Nigerian
companies recently lost as much
as N51.86 billion in the first half
of 2016 as the economy continues to
take a dip. Similarly, South Africa has overtaken Nigeria as Africa’s
biggest economy in dollar terms. The change in status of both
countries was attributed to the
appreciation of the rand, South
Africa’s currency, and the
devaluation of the Nigerian
naira. http://davesblog.over-blog.com/2016/08/disquiet-as-serious-financial-crunch-hits-national-assembly.html