Members of the House of Representatives have said they are in dire need of more funds in order to be able to perform their constitutional mandate effectively.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday, during at interactive session, spokesman of the lower legislative chamber, Benjamin Kalu (APC-Abia), said the budget allocation of the house needs to be increased from the current N128 billion.
“Yes, the house is broke. I have said it before and I am saying it again and I am not afraid of saying it.
“This is the fact until Nigerians believe that the appropriation that was made for the running of the National Assembly, which was done when the exchange rate of naira to the dollar was 180 is less now than what it used to be.
“The dollar equivalent today has gone up to over N400, the purchasing power of the budget as it is now, is weaker than it was 10 years ago.
“Why are you afraid to raise the budget of the National Assembly that will enable us to conduct our services efficiently and effectively,” he said.
He added that lawmakers appropriate for agencies to run effectively, but the poor budget of the parliament is a disservice to Nigerians.
Meanwhile, a growing number of Nigerians believe the national assembly is more of a parasite than its intended purpose, and have been labeled a 'rubber stamp assembly' who no longer represent the people by their own pockets.
According to a 2015 report by The Nation, nearly N13 billion was spent on maintaining the nation's senators and representatives just for two months even when the senators sat merely for a few days since their inauguration.
The report put the exact amount spent on maintaining 109 senators and 360 representatives, at N12.967 billion with each senator collecting N36.4 million and each representative pocketing N25 million.
In a recent statement, Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State, described members of the National Assembly as 'politicians without conscience', who only remember the people during elections.
He said, “Let the politician show us what they have done for the people, stop abusing the poverty of the people, when the election comes you look for something to entice the people. When these people have accident, they don’t have health insurance. Politicians have no conscience. I challenge national assembly members to show the report card of what they have done."