Breakdown of Zik Hall Legislative Council’s Approved Budget
In accordance with its constitutional duties, the Zik Hall Legislative Council resumed operations with a budget approval sitting on the 29th of October 2022.
“the speaker performs oversight functions outside the house, so the money is not just for calls, data and SMS charges. It is also for some other logistics like transportation…”
The sitting which commenced at about 7:00pm detailed in its agenda deliberations on first semester budgets, among other things. Present at the sitting were the honourable members of the house and executive council members. However, deliberations on the floor of the house throughout the sitting only covered the legislative council’s budget which stretched till late into the night.
In the breakdown of the legislative council’s budget, the house deliberated on the following items; printing, typing and photocopying; letterhead paper and design; refreshments; calls, data and SMS charges for the Clerk’s and Speaker’s office; running cost of committees; two higher educations; plaques; 2 big folders and miscellaneous.
Printing, typing and photocopy (N5000); the house clerk, Hon. Adeboye Adebisi, had proposed a sum of N10,000. However, the house reviewed the amount by half given the purposed repair of the hall’s printer by the Hall Secretary. In the event that the printer remains out of commission, an upward review of the amount is likely.
Letterhead paper and design (N4000); for the letterhead papers, the house clerk indicated that 30 letterhead papers were required. The house therefore approved N3000 for the copies, and N1000 for the design.
Refreshments for honourable members (N7000); the house reviewed upwards the initial amount of N300 for refreshments during sittings to N500, citing recent rise in cost of commodities.
Calls, data & SMS charges for the Clerk and Speaker (N15,000); the house approved N5,000 for calls, data and SMS charges by the Clerk in the performance of office functions which includes notifying honourable members, executive members and interested parties of scheduled sittings. Curiously, the house also approved N10,000 for the office of the Speaker, embodied by Rt. Hon. Igbaoreto Samson (aka Gandoki), for calls, data and SMS charges to be made in the performance of official functions.
Commenting on the fact that the allocation to the Clerk of the house, whose primary role covers making of calls, SMS and online contacts, is half of what the Speaker’s office gets for the same function, Rt. Hon. Igaoreto Samuel clarified that the amount of N10,000 also covers oversight functions performed by his office. According to him;
“the speaker performs oversight functions outside the house, so the money is not just for calls, data and SMS charges. It is also for some other logistics like transportation because of the programmes coming up which the speaker will be moving around to talk to people about. And peradventure if all the money is not used the remaining will be accounted for”
Running cost of committees (N20,000); the house approved N5,000 for each of the four committees of the house. The operative committees in the house include, the budget and planning committee, project auditing committee, financial committee, and ethics committee.
Plaques and certificate awards (N20,000); the house approved the budget for the award of plaques to principal members of the house at the completion of their tenure. However, this stirred up heated debate on the floor of the house as some honourable members argued against the trend that plaques are awarded to principal members of the house alone while other honourables only receive certificates of service.
To resolve the contention, the opinion of the immediate past speaker in person of Mr. Otumala Emmanuel, who presently occupies the position of Attorney General, was sought. the former speaker admitted that the point of debate had been a recurring one in previous legislative councils. In resolution, the house approved the sum of N20,000 for the award of plaques to principal members of the house while funding will be sought for other honourables’ plaques.
Higher education (N800) and 2 big folders (N1,000)
AOB; the house raised the issue of maintenance of the Junior Common Room (JCR), where the sitting was held. Constitutionally, the maintenance of the JCR falls under the purview of the Social Minister’s office, which is presently occupied by Mr. Malik. However, the house observed that the JCR was in a disheveled state before the sitting. The house resolved to query the Social Minister on the maintenance of the JCR and his noted absence at gyrations.
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