Nigerian Lawmaker Criticises N42bn Renovated Senate Chamber That Looks Like Conference Room

The Chief Whip of the Senate, Ali Ndume, has criticised the quality of renovation carried out in the senate permanent chamber.

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.

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.

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.

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.”