By Ikugbadi Oluwasegun
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, has underscored the urgency of curbing corruption and revenue leakages, warning that Nigeria alone loses billions each year to procurement fraud and inefficiencies.
Speaking at the 8th Annual Conference of the African Network of Parliamentary Budget Offices (AN-PBO) in Abuja, Abbas said the House is advancing reforms through tighter procurement laws, updated fiscal responsibility legislation, and the establishment of the National Assembly Budget and Research Office (NABRO), a non-partisan body that will boost the legislature’s analytical capacity.
The Speaker outlined Africa’s fiscal challenges rising debt, widespread poverty, and illicit financial flows draining billions of dollars annually and reaffirmed the National Assembly’s support for President Bola Tinubu’s policy of strategic and responsible borrowing while insisting that loans must be tied to infrastructure, growth, and poverty reduction while remaining transparent and sustainable.
Abbas further urged African parliaments to embrace artificial intelligence and digital tools to modernise oversight, detect irregularities, and empower citizens with open budget data.
Chairperson of the AN-PBO Governing Council, Professor Dumisani Jantjies, said the network was created to strengthen oversight through non-partisan fiscal analysis and noted that Nigeria’s NABRO was already proving its value. He cautioned, however, that high inflation and poverty remain pressing concerns, underscoring the need to translate macroeconomic stability into inclusive growth and tangible development.
Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, described the Abuja conference as a reaffirmation of Africa’s commitment to transparency and evidence-based budgeting.
