Presidency challenged to reveal cost of running Buhari and Osinbajo's offices

LEGISLATIVE assistants have challenged President Muhammadu Buhari and vice president Professor Yemi Osinbajo to make the running costs of their offices public as part of the ongoing fight against corruption and drive towards transparency.

Aides of senators and members of the House of Representatives, under the aegis of the Conference of National Assembly Legislative Aides (Conassla), have asked the presidency to reveal how much it spends on its activities. Conassla, a forum of current and former aides to members of the National Assembly, asked the presidency, finance minister, the minister of budget and national planning and all other cabinet members to disclose to the Nigerian people how much are their running costs.

Abdullahi Almustapha and Funmi Oyekan, the Conassla chairman and secretary, respectively, issued a statement asking for clarification. Controversy on the running costs of government started after Senator Shehu Sani disclosed that senators receive N13.5m as monthly running expenditure.

“In the interest of full disclosure, and in line with the transparency agenda of the president Muhammadu Buhari government, we call on the executive branch to publish the running costs of all the offices and individuals within its purview within seven days. Failure to do this will be an infringement on the trust of the Nigerian people who elected this government into office to curb excessive spending and official largesse by public office holders,” the Conassla officials said.