The Chief Whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume, has criticised the quality of renovation carried out in the senate permanent chamber.
Mr Ndume, the senator for Borno South, lamented that the chamber was poorly renovated despite the billions of naira expended on it.
The senator made the remarks during the plenary on Tuesday.
PREMIUM TIMES had exclusively reported that the federal government awarded the contract for the rehabilitation of the National Assembly complex to Visible Construction Limited for the sum of N42 billion.
This is despite the fact that former President Muhammadu Buhari approved N37 billion to renovate the National Assembly complex in 2019.
The complex is maintained and managed by the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) and was under renovation for about two years.
While it was ongoing, the lawmakers held plenary sessions in a temporary chamber at the Senate wing of the National Assembly.
The lawmakers however resumed plenary in the permanent chamber last Tuesday after they returned from four weeks of Easter and Eid-el-Fitr holiday.
Upon resumption, some of the senators expressed dissatisfaction with the sitting arrangements in the renovated chamber.
At today’s plenary, Mr Ndume complained that the structural view, chairs, speakers and other equipment in the chamber were not properly fixed.
Chamber like conference room
Mr Ndume said the permanent chamber renovated with N42 billion looks like a conference room and not a chamber where legislations are made.
“This is not a chamber, it is like a conference room. You will not even know that it is me, Ndume that is speaking, so also when the leader was speaking,” he said.
The senator noted that the sitting arrangement and fixing of chairs in the renovated chamber also require correction.
“We need to correct this. We need to change so many things. Like the sitting row, if you want to stand up, you will have to use tactics or strategy to stand up or sit down” he added.
No voting device
Mr Ndume also listed lack of electronic devices for voting as one of the challenges in the renovated chamber.
“There is no voting device here, if we are to vote electronically, the facilities are not there, but we had that previously.
“There is no clock here for senators to see the time. Okay they are trying to show me and I am looking for it, it is not even clear. There used to be a big one.”
Echoing speakers
The Senate whip also complained that microphones and speakers in the chamber are not audible.
He specifically observed that the speakers are echoing the voices of lawmakers when they are contributing to discussions on the floor of the Senate.
“This is a serious observation. If you play back the record, you cannot identify Akpabio’s voice, you have to listen hard, but the audio is supposed to be very clear,” the senator added.
“And most importantly, these seats were better. You have where you can put your documents and conveniently make your contributions, but right now the chamber is echoing.
“And lastly, the sitting arrangements, the rules clearly states that it is strictly on seniority. You have some seniors misplaced. All these should be corrected”, he added.
Responding, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, shifted blame of the irregularities in the renovated chamber to the leadership of the ninth Senate led by Ahmed Lawan and the Federal Capital Development Authority(FCDA).
Mr Akpabio said the renovation contract was managed by previous Senate leadership and management of the FCDA.
“In the sitting arrangement, 99.9 per cent arrangement had been made.
“This is not our contract, it was a contract that was awarded in the 9th Senate. It is the FCDA that renovated it. If we have a complaint, we have to channel it to the FCDA”, Mr Akpabio said.
The senate president also stressed the need for the autonomy of the National Assembly.
“We shall discuss in the future the need to have autonomy. After 25 years, the National Assembly should be able to own property,” he said.(Premium Times)
