House of representatives member, Bamidele Salam, has joined the growing army of those opposed to the plan to spend N37 billion on the renovation of the National Assembly Complex.
\nOthers, like the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), BudgIT, Enough is Enough (EiE)\u00a0and\u00a0583 concerned Nigerians\u00a0have gone to the Federal High Court, Abuja to \u201crestrain and stop President Muhammadu Buhari and Mrs Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning from releasing N37 billion allocated for the renovation of the National Assembly complex to the Federal Capital Development Agency and the National Assembly until an impact assessment of the spending is carried out.\u201d
\nOn Facebook, Salam wrote, \u201cI am a member of the National Assembly but I sincerely do not think we need a 37 billion Naira renovation of that edifice,.
\n\u201cApart from the Chambers of the NASS which need some upgrade in the audio and recording system, the entire structure needs no renovation more than our classrooms, hospitals and roads which are mostly in a decrepit condition.
\n\u201cAs an advocate of an aggressive microcredit strategy for job creation, I would rather want to see 370,000 small businesses get 100k interest free loan within 12 months rather than have 1 edifice swallow that sum within the same period. \u201d
\n\u201cIf we mop up all funds voted for renovations of the presidential villa and other offices of political leaders and top civil servants, we will raise more than a quarter of a trillion Naira that can be injected into SMES in the coming year.
\n\u201cI will, by God\u2019s grace, be making this open advocacy on the floor of the house of Representatives when the house reconvenes in January. It is never too late to change a wrong policy.\u201d
\nThe other groups and individuals are also seeking a court order to \u201crestrain, prevent and stop the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila and the Federal Capital Development Agency from demanding or collecting the N37 billion earmarked for the renovation of the National Assembly complex until an impact assessment of the spending on critical sectors and access to public goods and services, is carried out.\u201d
\nIn the suit number FHC\/ABJ\/CS\/1633\/2019 filed last week at the Federal High Court, Abuja, the plaintiffs argued: \u201cThe National Assembly complex should be a safe and conducive environment for those who work there. But spending \u20a637 billion to renovate the place is not commensurate with the constitutional commitments to public services and goods; decreasing public revenues and increasing level of debts as well as the poor economic and social realities in the country.\u201d
\nThe plaintiffs also argued: \u201cSpending N37 billion to renovate the National Assembly complex is self-serving, wrongful, illegal and unconstitutional expenditure of public funds, as it means less money for educating millions of out-of-school Nigerian children, providing access to clean water and healthcare to Nigerians including the elderly, or repairing the country\u2019s roads and bridges.\u201d
\nThe 583 concerned Nigerians who joined the suit as co-plaintiffs include: Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) co-convener Aisha Yesufu; Nigerian singer and actor Banky Wellington; Mrs Ayo Obe; Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, and Fisayo Soyombo.
\nThe suit, filed by Kolawole Oluwadare and Opeyemi Owolabi, read in part: \u201cThe defendants are public officers who have sworn the constitutional oaths of office to perform their respective duties in the interest of Nigerian citizens. The refusal of President Buhari to object to the Budget\/Appropriation Bill containing a huge N37 billion on renovation of the National Assembly complex is a gross violation of the constitution and existing laws in Nigeria.\u201d
\n\u201cThe National Assembly complex was reportedly constructed at the cost of $35.18 Million USD in 1999 and \u20a640.2 Billion Naira was budgeted in December 2013 for the construction of phase III of the National Assembly Complex and renovation of the first and second phases of the complex.\u201d
\n\u201cThe 2020 Budget is in deficit of \u20a62.175 Trillion with anticipated revenue at \u20a68.42 Trillion Naira and proposed expenditure of \u20a610.594 Trillion.
\n\u201cThe present-day economic reality in Nigeria includes chronic poverty amongst a high percentage of citizens and the inability of many state governments to pay salaries of workers and pensions. Unless the reliefs sought are granted, the Defendants will take benefit of the allocated N37 billion at the expense of many Nigerians living in poverty.\u201d
\n\u201cThe crux of the Plaintiffs\u2019 argument is better expressed in the question: Why should the nation spend so much on a building when there are other important areas of national infrastructure that can be developed in order to affect a greater number of citizens?\u201d
\nThe plaintiffs want the court to determine:\u201cWhether N37 billion\u00a0proposed,\u00a0voted and allocated for renovation of the National Assembly Complex in the 2020 Nigerian National Budget via Appropriation Act 2019 by the National Assembly and signed into law by President Buhari is not in breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers [Fifth Schedule Part 1] of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 [as amended] and Oath of\u00a0a Member of the National Assembly.\u201d
\nThe plaintiffs are seeking \u201can order of interim injunction restraining President Buhari and the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, or their agents from releasing the N37 billion allocated for the renovation of the National Assembly complex to the Federal Capital Development Agency and the National Assembly leadership pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice for an Order of Interlocutory Injunction filed contemporaneously in this suit.\u201d
\nThe plaintiffs are also seeking \u201can order of interim injunction restraining the Senate President Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Federal Capital Development Agency from demanding or collecting the N37 billion proposed for the renovation of the National Assembly pending the hearing and determination of Motion on Notice filed contemporaneously in this suit.\u201d
\nThe plaintiffs are seeking the following substantive reliefs from the court:
\nA DECLARATION\u00a0that\u00a0the N37 billion\u00a0proposed,\u00a0prescribed, voted and allocated for renovation of National Assembly Complex in the 2020 Nigerian National Budget via Appropriation Bill\/Act 2019 is a breach\u00a0of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers [Fifth Schedule Part 1] of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 [as amended] and Oath of\u00a0a Member of the National Assembly.
\nA DECLARATION\u00a0that the N37 billion\u00a0proposed,\u00a0voted and allocated for renovation of National Assembly Complex in the 2020 Nigerian National Budget via Appropriation Bill\/Act 2019 signed is a breach of the Defendants\u2019 solemn constitutional obligations to know and follow constitutional oaths governing their conduct, including their duties of care to Nigerians to faithfully protect and defend the constitution and improve the well-being and welfare of Nigerians.
\nAN ORDER OF THE COURT\u00a0restraining, preventing and stopping President Buhari and the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning\u00a0from\u00a0releasing\u00a0the N37 billion allocated for the renovation of the National Assembly complex to the\u00a0Federal Capital Development Agency\u00a0and the National Assembly leadership until an assessment of the impact of the spending on critical sectors like education, health, clean water and safe roads a revision to the allocation, is carried out
\nAN ORDER OF THE COURT\u00a0restraining, preventing and stopping the National Assembly leadership from demanding or collecting\u00a0the N37 billion proposed for the renovation of the National Assembly until an assessment of the impact of the spending on critical sectors like education, health, clean water and safe roads a revision to the allocation, is carried out
\nANY ORDER(S)\u00a0that the Honourable Court may deem fit to make in the circumstance of this suit.
\nNo date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
House of representatives member, Bamidele Salam, has joined the growing army of those opposed to the plan to spend N37 billion on the renovation of the National Assembly Complex. Others, like the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), BudgIT, Enough is Enough (EiE)\u00a0and\u00a0583 concerned Nigerians\u00a0have gone to the Federal High Court, Abuja to \u201crestrain and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":11252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[370,632,351],"class_list":["post-23517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","category-news","tag-national-assembly","tag-salam","tag-serap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}