Former Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume has condemned the secrecy with which the National Assembly leadership handles its budget, calling on the Senate President Bukola Saraki, to make the details of the budget public.

Ali Ndume, who expressed his displeasure on the floor of the Senate during the debate on the 2017 budget, decried that the budget of the Senate was not known to the senators, adding that it was important to let the public know details of the budget of the red chamber.

He said “This is very important because we cannot be taking blames or credits of things we didn’t know of.”

With N23.347 billion in 2003, the National Assembly’s budget now stands at about N115 billion, representing over 492 per cent rise in 13 years. Until 2016, the budget had often gone as high as N150 billion.

Several lawmakers stated that the National Assembly leadership, particularly the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, use the budget to have total influence on lawmakers as they determine who gets what and when including the controversial quarterly constituency allowance.

A member of the House of Representatives said. “Because most of us benefit from these allowances, it is really difficult to speak publicly against the leadership.”

The National Assembly leadership has since ignored calls by Nigerians and civil society groups to make details of the budget public.

The Senate spokesperson, Aliyu Abdullahi, however noted that it was not in “public interest” to disclose Senate budget.

He said “The National Assembly does not have same budget structure with the Executive and it is not in the public interest to see everything in the budget (of the NASS).”

Apart from calling for transparency in the National Assembly budget, Mr. Ndume also called for total overhaul of the 2017 Appropriation Bill to address the needs of Nigerians.

Mr. Ndume said that the most important ingredient of any budget was details. “This is a government of change and for the budget to lack details, this must also change. The details of the budget must be considered holistically,” he advised.