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Obasanjo flags off N25b
NASS complex
�Lawmakers seek financial
autonomy
By Chesa
Chesa
National
Assembly
Correspondent,
Abuja
President
Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday in Abuja flagged off the construction of the
N25 billion phase III of the National Assembly complex, with a plea to the
lawmakers to ensure its use for the consolidation of democracy and good
governance.
Obasanjo,
who performed the foundation laying, acknowledged the inadequacy of office
accommodation for the lawmakers and praised them for their patience.
The
lawmakers will still wait another 30 months for the completion of the
project.
The
president said the due process office was able to save about N500 million
off the initial cost of the building as proposed by the contractor, Julius
Berger Plc.
Obasanjo
gave assurance that the new complex would be very functional with high
quality furnishings and materials befitting the status of the lawmakers.
Senate President, Adolphus Wabara and the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Aminu Bello Masari, restate their demand for financial
autonomy and better funding of the legislature.
Masari said
the National Assembly was the least funded of the three arms of government
and demanded that the �structural and institutional imbalance� be
redressed to strengthen the ability of the legislature to make good laws
for the nation.
He also
proposed a budget and research office in the National Assembly to reduce
the dependence on data provided by the Presidency that are sometimes
inadequate and delayed.
Minister of
the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, caused a stir when
he breached protocol by arriving the venue after Wabara and his deputy,
Ibrahim Mantu, had taken their seats.
The
minister said Obasanjo had directed that the Shehu Shagari Presidential
complex to accommodate presidential aides and vital ring roads and
bypasses within the Three Arms Zone be completed while further
beautification of the federal capital continues.
He added
that to this end, 250,000 ornamental trees are being planted within the
city and more green areas and parks constructed so that �our senators and
representatives will no longer travel out for weekends but stay back and
enjoy Abuja�.
Obasanjo
received members of the House of Representatives Committee on National
Planning and Economic Development at the Presidential Villa. He praised
the National Assembly for the cooperation the Presidency has received from
it in the last one year.
He told the
delegation that both the executive and the legislative �are all learning�
and that the process allowed for differences to be amicably resolved.
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