The spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Akin Rotimi, has described recent claims that each member of the House now receives N1 billion for constituency projects as deliberate disinformation aimed at misleading the public and stirring unnecessary controversy.
Rotimi dismissed the claim on Friday in Abuja at an ongoing media and civil society roundtable on the relevance of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act in promoting electoral transparency and accountability organised by the International Press Centre (IPC).
He said the falsehood was being peddled by a former House of Representatives aspirant who failed to secure a seat in the last election.
A recent video featuring Ayodele Asalu, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State, claimed that following the removal of petrol subsidy, the Tinubu administration increased lawmakers’ constituency project funds from N200 million to N1 billion, while senators now receive at least N2 billion.
Asalu, a former House of Representatives aspirant for the Ede/Egbedore/Ejigbo Federal Constituency, made the claim while speaking at a meeting with his supporters and members of the APC.
“Before 2024, it wasn’t like this. But after subsidy removal, federal allocations to states increased and so did lawmakers’ project funds. If you see a lawmaker executing projects, don’t be fooled into thinking it’s from their personal pocket, he spoke in Yoruba.
“Take Osun State as an example, before now, an Honourable member’s allowance was less than N200 million. Today, nobody gets less than N1 billion. And no senator operates with less than N2 billion. These are facts, not exposés,” he said.
But Rotimi noted that the House refrained from issuing an official statement initially, opting instead to allow individual lawmakers to engage with their constituents directly and explain the realities of the budgeting system in relatable terms to their people.
He said: “Just last week, or about two weeks ago, there was a video of a gentleman who had contested to office of the House of Representatives and was not successful at it, and he felt that the best way that he could get a chance in the next electoral cycle is to intentionally spread disinformation about the budgetary process, saying that all members were given one billion naira, and a lot of disinformation, because some people actually won’t believe that that money is actually physically given to you.
“Some people even misconstrue that it’s given to you monthly, not knowing the complex nature of the budgetary process, and even in terms of implementation. And this was something that all my colleagues across all the 360 constituencies in the country had to be battling issues at the grassroots level.
“And the House even refrained from making any statement, because we said it was something that individual members had to go talk to the various constituencies in a language that they understand to be able to understand these issues.”
