SERAP And 20 Co-Plaintiffs Take Legal Action Against Akpabio And Others Over Alleged Unauthorized Budget Increase Of N147bn

SERAP And 20 Co-Plaintiffs Take Legal Action Against Akpabio And Others Over Alleged Unauthorized Budget Increase Of N147bn

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and a group of 20 concerned Nigerians have taken legal action against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, for their arbitrary and unilateral decision to increase the allocation for lawmakers from N197 billion to N344 billion. This surge represents the highest budgetary allocation since the advent of democracy in 1999……..CONTINUE READING

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The lawsuit, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, questions the legality of the lawmakers’ ability to independently augment their budget without the re-presentation of the budget by the Executive branch. The plaintiffs, represented by lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare and Andrew Nwankwo, seek a declaration that such unilateral increases by the National Assembly violate democratic principles, specifically the separation of powers and checks and balances.

The controversy arose when, last month, lawmakers raised their allocation from the initially proposed N197 billion in the budget to N344 billion. In total, the lawmakers are set to draw N514 billion from the 2024 budget. Additionally, in 2023, the legislators arbitrarily increased their budget from the initially proposed N169 billion to N228 billion.

The lawsuit questions the constitutionality of these actions, arguing that the National Assembly, in the exercise of its powers over appropriation/money bills, cannot unilaterally augment its budget without the re-presentation of the budget by the President, as stipulated in section 81 of the Nigerian Constitution (1999, as amended).

SERAP is seeking an order of perpetual injunction to prevent the National Assembly from independently increasing its budget without the requisite re-presentation of such appropriation/money bills. The legal battle brings to the forefront the broader issue of the democratic process and the adherence to constitutional principles in the budgetary allocation and appropriation procedures in Nigeria.

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