N27bn For NASS Renovation: HURIWA Calls For Mass Protest
BY VICTOR BUORO, ABUJA – Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has condemned the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration and the National Assembly’s leadership for going ahead to approve a whopping N27 billion for the renovation of the National Assembly’s complex.
HURIWA noted that the amount is ten times higher than what was utilised to build the edifice, stressing that N27 billion for the renovation of the National Assembly’s complex is criminal, misplaced, dubious, and a bribe for the Senate and the House of Representatives to continue to remain docile and subservient to the whims and caprices of the lawless executive arm of government.
The Rights Group noted with regret that Federal Government’s approved of a review of the budget for the renovation of the National Assembly complex from N37 billion to N27.7bn indicating a reduction of 25.1 percent, it however slashed the budget of the Health Care Provision Fund, which is meant to cater for all the primary healthcare centres across the 774 Local Government Areas in the country from N44.4bn to N25.5bn, a decrease of more than 42.5 per cent.
It stressed that the act is a crime against humanity given that the National health infrastructures of Nigeria have all collapsed and the Federal Government had to go cap in hand to multilateral lending institutions to borrow hugely in the guise of combating COVID-19 pandemic which in the real sense was never used or intended to be used to improve the dilapidated buildings of our health facilities all over Nigeria.
It said that this in addition to the scarcity of modern medical equipment and the motivation of the medical staff to man these health facilities.
HURIWA has also asked organised civil society community in the country to brace up and defend constitutional democracy from the strangle hold of oppressors and demagogues that have hijacked all tiers of Government.
It further said; “We must protest against this criminality of bribing the National Assembly with N27 billion and cutting down the budget for healthcare and for education.”
The Rights group said the present leadership of the National Assembly and the hand-picked hierarchy of the nation’s judiciary pose grave threats to the continuous existence of constitutional democracy unless the entire Nigerian masses stand up and demand immediate overhaul and restoration of the constitutionally guaranteed principles of checks and balances and the separation of powers.
HURIWA in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf lamented that the huge monetary approval granted by the executive arm of government and the crude fact that the Chief justice of Nigeria Muhammad Tanko was railroaded into office through a kangaroo tribunal and through an ex parte injunction granted by the ethically challenged quasi-judicial contraption called Code of Conduct Tribunal controlled and orchestrated by the executive arm of government, shows that Nigeria has effectively entered a totalitarian dictatorship of one man in the person of President Buhari.
According to the Rights Group; “There is no further need to look for evidence of collusion between the leadership of the National Assembly and the Executive arm of government to collapse the constitutionally guaranteed separation of powers going by the unfortunate fact that both the Legislative and judicial arms of government are now headed by O-YES men of Mr President and the sad reality is that unless the slumbering civil society wakes up and demand restoration of constitutional democracy, we can as well sing NUNCT DIMITIS SERVUM TUUM” meaning it is finished, every man to his tents.
The Rights group said the organised labour has since been bought over and pocketed by the the same executive arm of government.
“This N27 billion is nothing short of bribery to shut the mouths of the Legislative arm of government and already Nigerians have seen the practical evidence that the National Assembly has been bought over and pocketed by the Executive when the Senate President Ahmed Lawan told us that the Senate will approve all requests coming from President Muhammadu Buhari because he believes that the President means well for Nigeria.
“And shortly after, the Senate has turned into a full blown ”Banana republic” just as every request including several toxic requests sent to the National Assembly for loans ranging from $22.7billion and a fresh $5 billion loan request not including the $3.6billion COVID-19 loan have been approved and collected from the World bank.
“The National Assembly even approved that President Muhammadu Buhari should collect a loan from China whose terms of contract was written in Chinese language which no single legislator understands. So, democracy is on the verge of collapse unless the entire masses stand up now and demand immediate restoration of democracy.”
