One of the major problems facing Nigeria today is that for so many years, the country has been spending much more on recurrent expenditure than capital expenditure.This means the country spends less money on developmental projects than the money spent on payment of salaries, allowances and maintenance of offices and structures of government.
One of those structures of government consuming the financial resources of the nation is the National Assembly, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives.The bicameral legislature operated by the country is more expensive than the Nation can afford, with both chambers of the National Assembly performing the SAME function of lawmaking.
With over 400 members of the National Assembly (senate-109, house of representatives 360) and a long list of aides, the country has continued to spend billions of naira to maintain the National Assembly while there is little or no resources to expend on developmental projects like infrastructure, stable power and provision of employment opportunities.Twenty five per cent of the overhead of the Federal Government budget goes to the National Assembly. Figures from the office of budget for the year 2010 shows that total government overhead is N536, 268,49, 280. Total overhead of the National Assembly is N136,259,768, 112 which is exactly 25.1 per cent of Federal Government overhead. The overhead of the National Assembly as a percentage of the Federal Government budget in 2009 was 19. 87 and in 2008 was 14.19
This has made it a matter of compulsion for the Federal Government to cut down on the recurrent expenditures. One of the areas of doing this is the operation of a unicameral legislature, which was operated in the country before the second republic, as against the current bicameral legislature which drains the resources of the country and fills the pockets of a few individuals with expanded expenses.
Official figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicate that the current democratic dispensation has gulped over N18 trillion to service national “lifestyles” — operations, wages and salaries, purchase of goods and services, as well as subsidies, among others — in sharp contrast to a relatively paltry N6.5 trillion spent on infrastructure between 1999 and 2011.
A document procured from the NBS, showed a uniform average recurrent expenditure pattern within the range of N1 trillion and N1.6 trillion between 2003 and 2007, but shot up significantly to N2.1trillion in 2008, N2.3trillion in 2009, and jumping even higher to N3.3trillon in 2010 to settle at N3 trillion in 2011. While the recurrent component burgeoned, capital expenditure dwindled in the period under review.
Specifically, N489 billion capital expenditure in 1999 fell to N239.4 billion the following year. It, however, appreciated to N519.5 billion in 2004, sustaining the tempo to 2009, when the government, according to the NBS, spent N1.1 trillion on infrastructure. The figure also went down to N883.9 billion in 2010, the year the country spent the all-time high of N3.3 trillion on recurrent expenditure.
A country that spends 70% of its earnings on recurrent expenditure (salaries and allowances ), leaving only 30% for infrastructural developments will certainly lag behind in the committee of nations.
I therefore prescribe that the Senate and the house of Representatives be collapsed into a single entity and the number of seats reduced. The present composition is unnecessarily too expensive and a sheer waste of national resources.
One of those structures of government consuming the financial resources of the nation is the National Assembly, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives.The bicameral legislature operated by the country is more expensive than the Nation can afford, with both chambers of the National Assembly performing the SAME function of lawmaking.
With over 400 members of the National Assembly (senate-109, house of representatives 360) and a long list of aides, the country has continued to spend billions of naira to maintain the National Assembly while there is little or no resources to expend on developmental projects like infrastructure, stable power and provision of employment opportunities.Twenty five per cent of the overhead of the Federal Government budget goes to the National Assembly. Figures from the office of budget for the year 2010 shows that total government overhead is N536, 268,49, 280. Total overhead of the National Assembly is N136,259,768, 112 which is exactly 25.1 per cent of Federal Government overhead. The overhead of the National Assembly as a percentage of the Federal Government budget in 2009 was 19. 87 and in 2008 was 14.19
This has made it a matter of compulsion for the Federal Government to cut down on the recurrent expenditures. One of the areas of doing this is the operation of a unicameral legislature, which was operated in the country before the second republic, as against the current bicameral legislature which drains the resources of the country and fills the pockets of a few individuals with expanded expenses.
Official figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicate that the current democratic dispensation has gulped over N18 trillion to service national “lifestyles” — operations, wages and salaries, purchase of goods and services, as well as subsidies, among others — in sharp contrast to a relatively paltry N6.5 trillion spent on infrastructure between 1999 and 2011.
A document procured from the NBS, showed a uniform average recurrent expenditure pattern within the range of N1 trillion and N1.6 trillion between 2003 and 2007, but shot up significantly to N2.1trillion in 2008, N2.3trillion in 2009, and jumping even higher to N3.3trillon in 2010 to settle at N3 trillion in 2011. While the recurrent component burgeoned, capital expenditure dwindled in the period under review.
Specifically, N489 billion capital expenditure in 1999 fell to N239.4 billion the following year. It, however, appreciated to N519.5 billion in 2004, sustaining the tempo to 2009, when the government, according to the NBS, spent N1.1 trillion on infrastructure. The figure also went down to N883.9 billion in 2010, the year the country spent the all-time high of N3.3 trillion on recurrent expenditure.
A country that spends 70% of its earnings on recurrent expenditure (salaries and allowances ), leaving only 30% for infrastructural developments will certainly lag behind in the committee of nations.
I therefore prescribe that the Senate and the house of Representatives be collapsed into a single entity and the number of seats reduced. The present composition is unnecessarily too expensive and a sheer waste of national resources.
