Over 7,000
Nigerians are demanding the breakdown of the National Assembly (NASS) budget be
made public, reports ITRealms.
ITRealms recalls
that #OpenNASS advocacy has been demanding over the past 4 years for an open
and transparent National Assembly.
A press
statement made available to ITRealms by Enough-is-Enough, says that this is
particularly important because the legislative arm of government has oversight
function over the executive.
The group
wondered how could legislators hold the executive accountable when they are
opaque in their internal operations?
According to
the group, there have been several articles written and infographs published on
the issue, stressing that the allegations of ‘budget padding’ also started
conversations in the National Assembly about the breakdown of the budget
because only the principal officers seem to know the details.
As said by
them, the National Assembly has also refused to respond to Freedom of
Information (FOI) requests and a court order to provide its detailed budget.
“Between
June 29 and July 4, 2016, we conducted a scoping survey randomly selecting
telephone numbers and collecting 1,200 responses to 39 questions,” part of the
statement read.
On Tuesday,
December 20, 2016, for instance, ITRealms reports that EiE, Budgit and other
partners addressed a press conference about how 76 per cent of Nigerians
Actively Support Open Government Policies and #OpenNASS is a panacea for transparency
and accountability.
In the
foregoing, the group set up toll-free lines: 08139861001 and 08139861002 for
citizens to join the advocacy by signing a petition on the National Assembly
budget.
Furthermore,
as at March 2nd, 2017, 7,181 have signed the petition demanding that a
breakdown of the National Assembly’s budget be made public with immediate
effect. Attached with this press release is an infograph capturing the figures.
These
petitions have been gathered and they powered a letter sent and addressed to
the Chairman of the National Assembly dated March 9th, 2017 which was received.
Chuks Egbune/GEE
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