lawmakers, in a staggering move, have inserted an extra N30 billion in the 2024 Appropriation Bill for the ongoing renovation of the National Assembly Complex, bringing the total allocation for the legislature to N344.85 billion, the highest ever recorded.
President Bola Tinubu signed off on this budget, which includes the substantial increase from the initial N197.93 billion allocation.
This fresh injection of funds raises the total expenditure on the National Assembly’s renovation to a whopping N60 billion.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who also doubles as the head of the National Assembly, previously announced that President Tinubu would inaugurate various ongoing projects, including the N30 billion renovations, by December 2023.
“The entire complex of the National Assembly is like a construction site due to ongoing general renovation work and fresh projects which would, on completion, be inaugurated by President Bola Tinubu in December this year (2023),” Akpabio is quoted to have said by The Punch.
However, as of January 2024, the complex remains a construction site, with only minimal work visibly progressing.
Initially slated for completion in August 2022, subsequent revised deadlines for the renovation’s delivery were postponed to January 2023 and then December 2023, yet the refurbishment remains unfinished, and only partial work has been observed on the premises.
