The Rights group said the approval of N27 billion for the renovation of the National Assembly’s complex is criminal, misplaced, dubious, and is 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 said the organized labour has since been bought over and pocketed by the Executive. So Democracy is on the verge of collapse unless the entire Masses stand up now and demand immediate restoration of democracy.”It further added: “HURIWA condemns the Federal Government’s approval of a reviewed appropriation of the budget for the renovation of the National Assembly complex from N37 billion to N27.7bn. Also regrettably, in the proposed revised budget, while the National Assembly complex renovation budget was reduced to N27.7bn (a reduction of 25.1 percent), the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, which is meant to cater for all the primary healthcare centres across the 774 local government areas in the country, was significantly reduced by N44.4bn to N25.5bn, a decrease of more than 42.5 percent. “We must protest against this criminality of bribing the National Assembly with N27 billion and cutting down the budget for healthcare and for education.”

Source: The Guardian June 03, 2020 18:10 UTC