A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Bamidele Salam, has rejected the idea of renovating the National Assembly with 37bn as included in the budget.
Here is his submission as he posted on Facebook:
am a member of the National Assembly but I sincerely do not think we need a 37 billion Naira renovation of that edifice. Apart from the Chambers of the NASS which need some upgrade in the audio and recording system, the entire structure needs no renovation more than our classrooms, hospitals and roads which are mostly in a decrepit condition. As an advocate of an aggressive microcredit strategy for job creation, I would rather want to see 370,000 small businesses get 100k interest free loan within 12 months rather than have 1 edifice swallow that sum within the same period. If we mop up all funds voted for renovations of the Presidential villa and other offices of political leaders and top civil servants, we will raise more than a quarter of a trillion Naira that can be injected into SMES in the coming year. I will, by God’s grace, be making this open advocacy on the floor of the House of Representatives when the House reconvenes in January. It is never late to change a wrong policy!
