Saraki Defends NASS' 2017 Budget- We Can't Cut Costs Anywhere

Nigeria's Senate President Bukola Saraki has defended the National Assembly's 2017 budget.

According to him the N125billion set aside for the legislature is totally insignificant when compared to the entire budget for the year.

 

“In as much as we would take our criticism, we owe a responsibility to get across the right message; that is what it cost to run the legislative arm of government," he said on a Channels TV program.

He said the budget is "three percent of the entire budget, if you factor that against other areas of government, it is totally insignificant, as regards an arm of government.

“It sounds nice or I think if you are playing to the gallery, we can do that, but I think serious minded leaders must address what are the major issues; yes, we should cut cost, but no matter how much cost you cut, apart from retrenchment, you cannot reduce that cost by a certain percent.

“If you truly want to cut cost, just like when you run a company, you can cut all the cost but at the end of the day, you will have to go through issues of retrenchment, which we know is not an action we are likely to take.”