allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Scandalous Renovations At the National Assembly (Page 1 of 1)

Shortly after the inauguration of the House of Representatives last year its speaker, Mrs Patricia Ette was in the eye of the storm for ear marking N628 million for the renovation of her official residence and her deputy's house as well as for buying exotic vehicles. The chain of events that followed Ette's decision forced her to resign, but not until Dr Aminu Safana, a fellow legislator, died in the process. Ten months afterwards, the National Assembly is set to follow that controversial path again. Sunday Trust, a sister publication of this newspaper, reported that Senate President David Mark and his deputy, Senator Ike Ekweremadu intend to renovate their official residences with N350 million. The sum, according to the report, has been provided for in the senate's budget. Similarly, the residences of House Speaker Dimeji Bankole and his deputy, Alhaji Usman Bayero will be given face-lifts. The renovations will cost N200 million as provided for in the budget of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Significantly, during the Ette scandal, FCT officials had said that the houses of the principal officers, especially the senate president's and the speaker's residences, as well as their deputies' belong to the FCT. In that regard, their renovation and general upkeep are the responsibility of the FCT administration and not on the National Assembly. That claim has however been contradicted by Senator Ayogu Eze, the spokesman of the senate. The residences, according to him, now belong to the National Assembly which also maintains them. In the spirit of separation of powers, "there is no reason why FCDA should own buildings that belong to the National Assembly," Senator Eze pointed out. According to him, the House of Representatives may be living in the past, especially for believing that Bankole and Bayero's homes belong to FCDA. This confusion, in our view, had been earlier put to rest last year, following the Ette scandal.

On June 15, 2007, Alhaji Sani Alhassan, FCDA's Executive Secretary, wrote the senate leader a letter, asking the upper legislative chamber to find a way of furnishing Mark's and Ikweremadu's residences as their budget could not accommodate the cost. Clearly, the letter showed in clear terms, that the properties belong to FCDA. However, we are at a loss as to when the houses reverted to the National Assembly as Senator Eze frantically tried to explain. Clearly the senator's explanation flies in the face of the aforesaid letter. It is our view that whatever the case , it is improper to use senate funds, whether or not they are appropriated, to renovate properties that do not belong to it.

Apart from misapplication of funds, Daily Trust finds the entire renovation exercise of both the Senate and House of Representatives as not only frivolous but wasteful. In addition, the expenditure does not reflect the mood of the nation and it portrays the National Assembly as insensitive and selfish. The amount involved is too much for any kind of renovation. Conservatively, the money can erect new buildings and all the comfort that goes with them. Right now, given the plethora of issues before the National Assembly, the comfort of its presiding officers and their deputies should be the least on its scale of preference. This crass insensitivity and disregard of the public mood was exhibited in 1999, when legislators started hankering over furniture allowance immediately after the inauguration of the National Assembly. The uproar that greeted the action cast the law makers in the mould of perk-seekers and not patriotic individuals on serious legislative business. Considering this latest attempt at such costly renovation, we feel that the National Assembly does not seem to have learnt any lesson from last year's saga of renovation which cost the former speaker her job.

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