The National Assembly Library Trust Fund’s recurrent account will receive the sum of N255 million that was allocated for the National Assembly e-Library in the Appropriations Act 2022/2023 as part of the initial take-off grant.
The House also agreed that N118 million that had been budgeted for the National Assembly Dashboard should also be transferred to the NASS Library Trust Fund’s recurrent account.
The decision followed the unanimous adoption of a motion of urgent public importance made by House member Jonathan Gbefwi during Tuesday’s plenary session.
Urgent Need to Vire the Amounts Appropriated for the National Assembly E-Library and Dashboard in the 2022/2023 Appropriation Act to the National Assembly Library Trust Fund as Take-Off Grant was the title of the motion.
Gbefwi pointed out that the National Assembly Library Trust Fund was established by the National Assembly Library Trust Fund Act, 2022, for the provision of cutting-edge library equipment and other related facilities, for the retraining of National Assembly legislators and staff, and for the improvement of the legislature’s research skills in the handling of the law-making process.
He claims that the establishment of the Board of Trustees and the hiring of an Executive Secretary for the Trust Fund, among other steps, have put everything in place for the launch and operation of the National Assembly Library Trust Fund.
“The House is aware that the sums of N255,000,000 and N118,000,000 were appropriated in the Appropriation Act, 2022, respectively, for the National Assembly E-library and the Dashboard, and that there is no sum appropriated for the National Assembly Library Trust Fund, he said.
The House is also aware that the National Assembly Library Trust Fund’s sole mandate is to manage the e-Library and provide related electronic library services, which served as the impetus for this House’s decision to create the Trust Fund in the first place.
“The House is concerned that any further delay in the virement of the funds appropriated for the National Assembly E-Library and the Dashboard, respectively, will obstruct the Trust Fund’s smooth launch and invariably affect the achievement of the Act’s objectives in the 2022–2023 fiscal year,” it states.
