Youth Protest at National Assembly in Abuja [Photos]

The protest tagged #OurNASS, lead by a coalition of youth and non-governmental organizations under the aegis of Conscience Nigeria protested outside the NASS over prolong ASUU strike, killing of squatters at Apo, lack of transparency in the National Assembly regarding salaries, allowance and constituency allowances.

Leader of the Abuja protesters, Yemi Adamolekun, said the N150bn annual budget of the federal legislators, consisting 109 senators and 360 representatives, “was too much in the midst of the pervading abject poverty across the land.”


Adamolekun also alleged that most of the federal lawmakers had abandoned their constituencies and were unreachable by the people that voted for them.

Responding to the allegations, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, challenged the protesters to a debate on the salary of the Nigerian legislators.

He said most Nigerians, especially the youths, were either acting in ignorance or out of misinformation on the affairs of the National Assembly.

Abaribe said the protesters made a mistake by claiming that the National Assembly was made up of only 469 people.

He said, “The National Assembly budget is just three per cent of the national budget; three per cent of the other two arms of government. The waste is from the 97 per cent represented by the other two arms of government.”

He also debunked the claims by the protesters that lawmakers had alienated the people because each of them was accountable to their constituents.

He said, “All Nigerians have a representative in the National Assembly. My constituents in Abia South Senatorial, which I represent, know me and I am accountable to them.

“It is the responsibility of Nigerians to go to each of their representatives in the National Assembly and ask for their constituency contacts. You should know those who are representing you; my constituents have my contact.”