konknaijaboy | On 04, Jun 2015

As president Buhari’s new administration and Nigeria’s 8^th national assembly settles into office, a new campaign for transparency, accountability, and possibly a cut, in funds allocated to the National Assembly is picking up steam.

The social media campaign tagged #OpenNASS is led by BudgIT– a local start-up focused on making budgetary information accessible to Nigerians.

BudgIT was founded in 2011 at the influential Nigerian technology hub, Co-Creation Hub located in Lagos’ Yaba neigbhourhood. The start-up has grown rapidly and last year bagged $400,000 in funding from Omidyar Network, the impact investment firm started by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. BudgIT generates revenue from consulting and data analysis for private and public organizations.

Primarily a civic start-up, BudgIT is strong on advocacy as it continues to work to simplify budgetary information for Nigerians in a bid to ensure more transparency in fiscal spending. One of its previous projects was ‘Follow Flood Money’, an initiative to track flood relief funds in Nigeria after devastating floods in 2012.

Nigerian legislators, among the world’s top paid, receive annual salaries of between $150,000 to $190,000 per annum depending on exchange rates. At current exchange rates Nigerian lawmakers, would earn around $160,000 more than British MPs who make around $105,000 according to data from The Economist. In fact, until plunging oil prices started putting pressure on the Nigerian naira earlier this year, the Nigerian lawmakers were the second highest paid lawmakers in the world.

The average legislators’ pay is more than 50 times Nigeria‘s GDP per capita. In a country where millions live on less than two dollars daily and minimum wage is set at $90 a month, the legislator’s bumper pay has been described as outrageous. The campaign for a cut in the National Assembly’s funds as a new government comes in is fitting as President Buhari, who will earn less than the lawmakers, has a reputation for being modest and austere.

The main thrust of the #OpenNASS campaign is for the National Assembly to open its books to allow for an assessment of its finances and possibly advocate for cuts particularly in a period of financial uncertainties which has seen the country struggle to pay salaries.

Between 2011 and 2014, the National Assembly received N150 billion yearly but will receive N120 billion in 2015 according to the recently ,,,,,,,,,,,,[continue reading here