The House of Representatives on Thursday disclosed that it’s has no money to carry out its constitional duties effectively.
The Spokesman of the House, Benjamin Kali told newsmen in Abuja that the budget of the National Assembly should be reviewed upward to enable it cope with the situation.
Kalu who bared his mind on the financial situation of the House saying” Yes the house is broke. I have said it before and Iam saying it again and Iam not afraid of saying it.
” This is a fact,until Nigerians believe that the appropriation that was mace for the running of the National Assembly which was done when the exchange rate of naira to the dollar was 180 is less now than what it’used to be.
” The dollar equivalent today has gone up to over N400, the purchasing power of the budget as it is now , is weaker than it was 10 years ago” he said.
The lawmaker revealed that he had asked his colleagues to raise the budget of the National Assembly to enable it carry out its services efficiently.
Kalu and” We appropriate for agencies to run effectively and yet, we are in penury trying to run our own constitutional mandate. It is a disservice to Nigerians,” he said
According to him, the N128 billion appropriated for the National Assembly was divided among all the agencies in the parliament comprising about 6,000 members of Staff and legislative aides.
