Severance allowances of the 469 members of the National Assembly and their legislative aides will cost the nation N30.17 billion next year.
The sum is a part of the N238.78 billion National Assembly appropriated for itself as contained in the N21.8 trillion 2023 national budget. The National Assembly okayed the Appropriation Bill on Wednesday.
According to the Budget, the Senate will receive N33.27 billion out of the N238.78 billion for members’ salaries and other perks while the House of Representatives will get N52 billion for its members..
A further breakdown of the N238.78 billion shows that the National Assembly Office was allocated N30.49 billion; National Assembly Service Commission (NASC), N10.56 billion; and legislative aides. N16.52 billion.
In addition, the Public Accounts Committees (PACs) of the Senate and House of Representatives were allocated N119 million and N143 million respectively.
Other allocations are general services, N11.30 billion; National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS). N7.41 billion; Service Wide Vote, N671 million; and Office of retired Clerks and Permanent Secretaries, N1.06 billion.
Furthermore, the Appropriation Committee Departments of the Senate and House are expected to expend N125 million and N165 million respectively next year.
Other expenditure items are the National Assembly Library Building (ongoing project), N4.25 billion; Hosting of Conference of Speakers of African Parliaments (COSAP), N127.5 million; NASS Liabilities, N8.5 billion; NASS E-Library, N255 million and NASS Dashboard, N118.15 million.
Constitution Review has a budget of N850 million; the Completion of the National Assembly Library Complex, N7.5 billion; the completion of NILDS headquarters, is N2.5billion; the Construction of the Assembly’s building is N10 billion, and Public Complaints Commission, is N10.69 billion.