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Politics of Monday, 10 February 2020

Source: www.mynigeria.com

Our responsibilities are bigger than our budget- Lawmakers cry out, seek pay rise

House of Assembly House of Assembly

Members of the house of representatives have taken to the media to protest their paltry allowances.

According to Benjamin Kalu, spokesman of the lower legislative chamber, he said the responsibilities of lawmakers were bigger than their budget.

He lamented the inexistence of a personal computer as well as funding to manage all his assigned responsibilities.

He blamed Nigerians for not adjusting their realties to the lawmakers' plight.

“The impression out there is not true. The house of representatives is struggling with funds because the activities of the house are bigger than the budget. This is the fact,” he said at the media briefing at the weekend.

“The activities are many while the funding is small. Many will not like to hear this, but this is the truth. The speaker and the leadership are struggling to manage all the responsibilities of the house with the available resources. You will agree with me that the ability to harness available resources to meet a definite goal is the definition of management.

“We are not even talking of the representatives’ functions that have to do with constituency projects. Let us focus on making laws and doing our oversight functions. The money is not enough," said.

He complained of lack of equipment to carry out his functions:

“When it is the house of representatives, everyone screams without taking time to do critical analysis but with biases. It is time we changed the narrative and began to let the people know the truth.

“I have been in my office since I resumed and I don’t have a computer from the government to do my job. This is a fact. All my aides don’t have facilities to do their jobs. They keep rationing these funds because it is the much we can do,” he explained.