2024 Appropriation Bill: Lawmakers Budget Additional N30bn for National Assembly Renovation
- A fresh report has confirmed that lawmakers have allocated an additional N30 billion to renovate the National Assembly Complex
- This was shortly after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Monday, January 1, signed the 2024 appropriation bill into law
- As of January 2024, the renovation of the national assembly has not been completed, and there is only minimal observable progress on the property
Legit.ng journalist Segun Adeyemi has over 9 years of experience covering political events, civil societies, courts, and metro
FCT, Abuja - In the 2024 Appropriation Bill, lawmakers have allocated an extra N30bn to refurbish the National Assembly Complex.
This additional funding is part of the N344.85bn budget assigned to the National Assembly, which was increased from the initial N197.93bn.
Source: Twitter
President Bola Tinubu signed this record-high budget on January 1. Consequently, the total amount allocated for renovating the National Assembly complex has now reached N60bn.
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On June 30, 2023, Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced that in December of the previous year, Tinubu would oversee the inauguration of various ongoing projects valued at N30 billion at the National Assembly.
As quoted by Punch, Senator Akpabio said:
“The entire complex of the National Assembly is like a construction site due to ongoing general renovation work and fresh projects which would, on completion, be inaugurated by President Bola Tinubu in December this year (2023).”
Initially scheduled for completion in August 2022, the renovation of the National Assembly Complex faced delays, pushing the delivery date to January 2023 and December 2023.
However, as of January 2024, the renovation remains unfinished, and only minimal work is visible on the premises.
A recent on-site observation on a Saturday revealed that the contractor, Visible Construction Company, is still actively working on the project.
One of the officials of the construction company said:
“People keep blaming us for not finishing the project but those with the money have refused to release money to us.
“How are we expected to finish the work without money? If money is released to our company, the project will be done in no time.”
Senate inspects NASS renovation
During a recent inspection carried out by the Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory, Tajudeen Olanipekun, the site engineer, attributed the delay to changes in the exchange rate of the Nigerian naira against the United States dollar.
He said:
“This has hampered the importation of required materials and equipment, in addition to the need for more funds from the FCDA.”
Nevertheless, Richard Nduul, the Head of Public Relations at the Federal Capital Development Agency (FCDA), revealed that N19 billion had been disbursed to the construction firm in June.
He said:
“This project, when completed, will bring the Complex to the status of a world-class parliamentary building that will ensure both the comfort, convenience and functionality of the complex.”
House of Reps: Lawmakers push bills to create 47 universities
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives is considering about 47 bills at the second reading to establish new federal universities nationwide.
An order paper of the house also revealed 56 bills to create federal medical centres in different parts of the country.
The lawmakers are also looking toward establishing vocational and skill acquisition, cancer research and entrepreneurship centres nationwide.
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Source: Legit.ng
