Senate Deputy Chief Whip, Sabi Abdullahi has declare that renovation of the National Assembly complex was long overdue, after 20 years it was built.
Sabi spoke at ‘Politics Today’ programme anchored Channels Television, saying that not much had been done to upgrade the building due to the level of legislative deliberations in it.
“When we came on board in this particular republic in 1999, the structures and every other thing that was put in place came in with the transition and since that time till now, it is on record that not much has been done to upgrade, renovate and to continually add value to that institution even as the legislature continues to evolve in terms of what it requires to carry out its democratic function.
“The idea of rehabilitating that particular complex is long overdue because this is 20 years now and there was no major rehabilitation done to the structure and it has been serving Nigeria from that period up till now,” he said, adding that N37 billion earmarked for the project was not on the high side because the appearance from the outside is contrary to what the inside looks like and that “the outcry by Nigerians is not relevant.
“What people see from the outside is not what that building is alone; you need to go inside to understand what that building is before you can think maybe what is being done is on the high side.
“Nigerians do not value the democratic process we have. If they do, they won’t be saying what they are saying,” he noted.
However, a legal practitioner, Jiti Ogunye, who was also on the programme, emphasised that the proposed sum was a waste of resources owing to the infrastructural challenges facing the country.
Ogunye, contradicting Senator Sabi’s claim, gave examples of South Africa, the United States of America and United Kingdom whose legislative buildings have been existing long before the National Assembly complex, noting that “what is being proposed is sheer waste, profligacy, irresponsibility and I am saying this with all sense of responsibility.
“The deputy chief whip was referencing 1999 it has not been renovated, so we need this humongous amount, N37bn to renovate it and because they are legislators, that’s the nerve-centre of governance.
“This is wastefulness, what we are being told is just a metaphor, a national calamity; this Lagos-Ibadan expressway that has been stopped for years. This is not our priority; the money is going to be wasted. We don’t need that N37 billion,” he stressed,” he said