House Of Reps Members Kicks Against N37 Billion National Assembly Renovation

Two lawmakers, Hon. Bamidele Salam and Hon. Akin Alabi have kicked against the N37 billion budgeted for the renovation of the National Assembly complex.

KanyiDaily had reported that a sum of N37 billion was approved by President Muhammadu Buhari for the renovation of NASS complex which is slated to begin early next year.

The senate president Ahmed Lawan, had earlier disclosed that the president had approved the renovations after lawmakers complained about the state of the facilities, saying no major renovation has been done on the building in the 20 years since it was commissioned.

Reacting in a series of tweets on Sunday, Bamidele Salam, representing Ede North/Ede South/Egbedore/Ejigbo Federal Constituency of Osun State, disagreed with NASS and called for the funds to be used to renovate hospitals and schools.

“I am a member of @nassnigeria but I sincerely do not think we need a 37 billion Naira renovation of that edifice now,” he said on Twitter.

“Apart from the Chambers of NASS which need some upgrade in the audio & recording system, the entire structure needs no renovation more than our classrooms, hospitals and roads which are mostly in a decrepit condition.

“As 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.”

Akin Alabi, representing Egbeda/Ona Area Federal Constituency of Oyo State, said spending such amount on the renovation is in not in the best interest of the country.

“I see no reason why we should spend N37b renovating the National Assembly. Yes, we need upgrade on some aspects like the electronic systems (sound system, voting system etc) as they are outdated but N37b? No. Let’s spend that on our schools and hospitals,” he said.