Senate President Bukola Saraki has identified lack of defined operational budget as the cause of the alleged corruption rocking the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Saraki, while receiving a delegation of civil society groups, under the aegis of Civil Society Situation Room, led by Clement Nwankwo, in Abuja, expressed concern about the non-provision of operational budget for most agencies, especially income generating ones.
Such a situation, he added, led to serious leakages in the oil corporation.
He, however, assured the delegation that with the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and his leadership of the Senate, the era of deliberate non-provision of operational budget for agencies of government to function was over.
He also said the 1999 Constitution Amendment Bill, the 2011 Electoral Act Amendment Bill and the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which were either passed by the National Assembly or refused assent by former President Goodluck Jonathan, would be given priority on the resumption of the Senate for plenary next week.
“The budget process which you talked about, I want to tell you that some of us have strong views that issue of budget must be transparent particularly. Days are gone where agencies like the NNPC would be able to function without operational budget.
“We must move away from that because one of the key issues that we have now is the issue of revenue leakages because of lack of transparency. I think we must move away from that, especially agencies that have revenue coming in,” he stated.
Responding to the group’s request that the National Assembly must, as soon as possible, revisit some people-oriented bills, which were passed and refused assent by Jonathan, Saraki said some of the bills were critical to the current reform project of the Federal Government and so would be given accelerated attention.
“You have raised a number of bills, one of which is the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, which is key to deepening the electoral process. More importantly, is the Constitution Amendment Bill, which was unfortunate that after all the work that was done on it, it could not be assented to.
“I can assure you that as soon as we resume, we will begin discussion on how to go about bringing all those bills that are people- oriented back with a view to fast tracking their passage,” he added.
According to the Senate President, the legislature will work hard towards ensuring transparency in governance.
“On the issue of transparency of oversight, which you raised here, we will work very hard to see the areas where there can be improvement on our part. As duly elected representatives of the people, we will work closely with every stakeholder in our onerous task of building a prosperous, secured and egalitarian society, where the dividends of democracy will be felt by the people,” Saraki said.
He urged the CSOs to be more proactive and constructive in their approach to issues, adding that “I recognise the importance of Civil Society Organisations in a nascent democracy. You have done creditably well so far.
“On our part as legislators, we will be open, transparent and accept to work together as a team in order to transform our abundant resources to the betterment of Nigeria and Nigerians. The Senate under my leadership would be steadfast as well as improve on oversight functions.
“The budget processes will be transparent, we will continue to prevent revenue leakages and enact laws that are relevant to the welfare of the people,” he said.
Earlier, Nwankwo had commended the successes recorded in the election of the leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives, saying that the independence of the legislature will expedite growth and development in every sphere of governance.
He solicited the support and partnership of the National Assembly in the passage of the PIB, Constitutional Amendment Bill and People Living with Disability Bill.
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