TheCable

Benjamin Kalu, deputy speaker of the house of representatives, says the budget of the national assembly will be “sufficiently” increased to enable committees to perform their oversight functions.

Kalu spoke in Abuja on Monday at the unveiling of the public account committee of the house of representatives.

The deputy speaker was reacting to a comment by Bamidele Salami, chairman of the public account committee.

Salami had earlier said the office of the accountant-general of the federation should provide the committee with a bus to aid its oversight function.

But Kalu said the parliament would not accept gifts from ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to avoid compromise of its oversight duty.

He said the upper and lower legislative chambers will increase the budget of the national assembly to enable various committees to do their work.

“We want to maintain that in the spirit of the doctrine of separation of powers and the need to be thorough in the exercise of our duty, investigating the work done by the accountant-general, we will not be accepting that gift,” Kalu said.

“Rather, Nigerians should expect the house and senate to make a sufficient budget that will be enough for the committees such as yours (public account committee).”

Kalu’s comments come amid criticism from Nigerians against the national assembly’s plan to purchase bulletproof sports utility vehicles (SUVs) for lawmakers.

Kalu also called on President Bola Tinubu to appoint a substantive auditor-general of the federal, saying the absence of one is unconstitutional.

Adolphus Aghughu, the immediate past auditor-general, retired in September 2022.

“The national assembly is interested and committed to the office of the auditor-general,” the deputy speaker said.

“I’m joining my voice to that of my brother, the chairman of the PAC committee. We cannot afford to have an acting director or whatever nomenclature occupying that important position of auditor general.

“We urge Mr president to look into confirming the person who’s there (serving in an acting position) or anybody of his choice to take up the role of auditor general of this country.

“It will send the right signal that this government is ready to pursue taxes.”