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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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New N25.5b National Assembly project takes off in Abuja
PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday laid the foundation of a new N25.5 billion National Assembly building project in the Federal Capital Territory.
At the ceremony, President Obasanjo declared that the building, which will form part of Phase III of the Assembly complex will consist of:
The President said: "the contract for this project was approved by the Federal Executive Council (F.E.C) and awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc at the contract sum of N25,557,877,459.00 with a foreign component of 70 per cent and a completion period of 30 months.
"This amount is, however, not a fixed contract sum as the provisional sums contained in it are to be properly re-measured with a view to achieving a possible downward revised contract sum after discussions with our Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit otherwise known as the Due Process Office and the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory."
Chairman, Technical Committee on the Project and Deputy President of the Senate, Ibrahim Mantu said that the "Due process office had saved about N5 billion for the nation through its thorough and rigid stance on transparency and proper accounting process.
Senate President Adolphus Wabara lamented that "the planners and initiators of the initial phase of the National Assembly under-estimated the size, content and form of the legislature in participatory democracy."
He stressed that the oversight functions of the legislators in addition to their duties of law making meant that their duties were enormous and demanding.
His worlds: "The sheer number of legislators, legislative aides, National Assembly regular staff and other vital and strategic hands necessary for the running of the complex and the conduct of legislative business means that the present Assembly complex is grossly inadequate to accommodate the entire system and its paraphernalia."
Wabara made a case for financial independence of the legislature to enhance its smooth operations, pointing out that "its is the view of the Senate that statutory allocations to the National Assembly should be a first line charge from the Federation Account."
House of Representatives Speaker, Aminu Bello Masari also lamented that the legislature had suffered serious neglect in terms of funding to the extent that it had now become the weakest of the three arms of government.
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