Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, has dismissed reports about an unaccounted sum of N18.6 billion related to the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) building project.
The disclaimer statement titled: ‘Clarification on the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) building project’ was issued by the Special Adviser to the Speaker on Media and Publicity, Musa Krishi.
“The Office of the Speaker, House of Representatives, has observed recent media reports stemming from an allegation by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) suggesting that the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, PhD, GCON, failed to account for a purported sum of N18.6 billion relating to the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC) headquarters building.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Speaker wishes to state unequivocally that he has no involvement, directly or indirectly, in the award, processing, supervision, or payment of any contract within the National Assembly bureaucracy or any of its agencies.”
According to him, the “Contractual matters within the National Assembly are the exclusive responsibility of the administrative bureaucracy, which operates under its own statutory leadership and procurement structures.
“It is important to emphasise that, by its own admission, SERAP acknowledged that the NASC headquarters project was conceived, awarded, and contractually executed long before the emergence of the current leadership of the House of Representatives.
“It is germane to restate that the political leadership of the National Assembly does not have anything to do with such matters. Accordingly, attempts to link the Speaker or the House leadership to such matters are factually incorrect and misleading.”
To this end, he urged SERAP, the Media, and the public to respect the institutional boundaries that govern the National Assembly and refrain from attributing administrative or procurement decisions to the Office of the Speaker.