The Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, have both been sued by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) about the National Assembly budget.
The deputy director of SERAP, Kolawole Oluwadare, stated this in a statement on Sunday. He said that they "failed to cut the unlawful National Assembly budget of N228.1bn, including the N30.17bn for members' severance payments and inauguration costs," which is why they needed to file the lawsuit.
The defendants in the complaint are President Muhammadu Buhari, Abubakar Malami, SAN, Minister of Justice, and Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning.
He claimed that despite the approved budget showing an increase of about N59.1 billion, the country's budget of N21.83 trillion is based on N10.49 trillion in income and a deficit of N11.34 trillion. As a result, the National Assembly decided to increase the budget for 2023 from the N169 billion that President Muhammadu Buhari had proposed to N228.1 billion.
SERAP is requesting "an order of mandamus to direct and compel Dr Lawan and Mr Gbajabiamila to review and reduce the N228.1bn budget that the leadership and members of the National Assembly allocated for their own benefit" in the lawsuit FHC/ABJ/CS/152/2023, which was filed last Friday at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The rights group wants “an order restraining and stopping Ms. Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, from releasing the N228.1bn budget to the National Assembly until an impact assessment of the spending on access to public goods and services and the country’s debt crisis is carried out.”
It also wants “an order stopping Lawan and Gbajabiamila from demanding or collecting the National Assembly budget of N228.1bn until an impact assessment of the spending on access to public goods and services and the country’s debt crisis is carried out.”
“It is a grave violation of the public trust and constitutional oath of office for members of the National Assembly to increase their own budget when about 133 million Nigerians are living in poverty,” the statement said in part.
“The National Assembly budget of N228.1bn is higher than the statutory transfer to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), which is N103.3bn.
“The increase is unreasonable, as it would substantially increase the cost of governance and exacerbate the country’s debt crisis. It is unlawful and unfair to the Nigerian people. Cutting the National Assembly budget would reduce the growing budget deficit, address the unsustainable debt burden, and serve the public interest.
“By increasing its own budget, the National Assembly has unjustifiably and disproportionately reduced the budget for the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).”
No date has been set for when the case will be heard.