The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila over the National Assembly’s budget.
SERAP Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, announced this in a statement on Sunday, saying the suit became necessary following their failure to cut the unlawful National Assembly budget of N228.1bn, including the N30.17bn severance payments and inauguration costs for members.
He stated that the suit followed the move by the National Assembly to increase its 2023 budget from N169bn proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari to N228.1bn. While the approved budget shows an increase of about N59.1bn, the country’s budget of N21.83tn is based on a N10.49tn revenue, and an N11.34tn deficit.
In the suit filed last Friday at the Federal High Court in Abuja, SERAP is seeking: “an order of mandamus to direct and compel Lawan and Gbajabiamila to review and reduce the budget of N228.1bn the leadership and members of the National Assembly allocated for their own benefit.”
The rights group wants “an order restraining and stopping Ms Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning from releasing it 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.
