Senate President, Bukola Saraki
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Thursday, inaugurated an ad hoc committee to carry out a fiscal examination on the senate’s finances with the aim of coming up with the best cost-effective mechanism for the 8th Assembly.
According to Saraki, the 10-member committee, headed by Senator James Manager, would look at the best strategy to reduce the cost of governance.
He said the call for the reduction in the cost of governance had been a sensitive matter in the country.
Saraki said the committee would ascertain the details of salaries and allowances accruable to each senator with a view to unraveling the ambiguity in the monthly salaries of legislators and their allowances.
He noted with concern that there still persisted the need to project clarity, accountability and transparency in all legislative matters and legislators’ welfare.
He said, “The 8th Senate under our watch recognises the concerns raised by Nigerians about the cost of running office, most especially with the economic challenges facing our nation.
“The senate will be more transparent regarding all public funds spent for the purpose of paying salaries and allowances of legislators, and ensure that a distinction is sufficiently made between what a legislator actually earns and what was being spent to run and implement legislative business and committee activities.”
Saraki pledged that the watchword in the senate’s finances would be fiscal conservatism, adding that the committee was mandated to carry out a thorough fiscal examination on the senate’s finances.
He commended the Office of the Clerk of the National Assembly, the National Assembly management and the senators in the committee.
The senate president also on Thursday inaugurated an ad hoc committee on legislative agenda. The committee was saddled with the responsibility of charting a renewed course for the 8th Senate, he said.
He said the 18-member committee headed by the Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, would chart a new course for the parliament as a way of ensuring a smooth relationship between the executive and the legislature for effective service delivery.
He said, “Legislators do not govern, but they provide the means by which a political system could maintain the balance between effectiveness and consent, that is, between the needs of government to be able to raise resources necessary to carry out a programme of public policy and to maintain the consent of the people.
“The challenges ahead are very daunting and onerous in nature and this, therefore, requires the input of the whole committee towards generating a refined report.
“The objectives and mission of the legislative agenda are to increase the institutional capacity of the senate, build a legislative autonomy and strengthen the committee system.”
He noted that the committee would also map out strategies for oversight functions and extensive representation by reaching out to stakeholders.
He added that the ad hoc committee was tasked not to underscore the pivotal significance of the legislative agenda and the timeline in the delivery of a sound report that will shape the course of the 8th Assembly.
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