The National Assembly is currently under attack from prominent groups and economic experts for reducing the budgetary allocations for projects such as the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the Second Niger Bridge, PUNCH reports.
It was gathered that the lawmakers reduced the budget for the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway from N31bn to N10bn, while the vote for the Second Niger Bridge was cut from N15bn to N10bn.
But as against N115bn budgeted for the federal lawmakers in 2016, the National Assembly hiked its budget to N125bn in 2017.
Condemning the lawmakers, civil rights organisations said the National Assembly, by slashing allocations for the projects and increasing its own votes, had shown that it was selfish.
Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), had raised the alarm over the insertion of projects outside the purview of his ministry into the 2017 Appropriation Act by the National Assembly.
Fashola said it was unfair to the executive arm for the inclusion of such projects after public hearings on the budget and defence of the fiscal estimates by the ministries.
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