The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has charged his colleagues to remain focused in carrying out their legislative mandates.

Senator Saraki does not want the lawmakers to be distracted from their primary assignment by the imminent increase of political activities in the buildup to the 2019 general elections.

The Senate President made the call in his welcome address to Senators on the resumption of plenary after three weeks break.

He said it would not be in the interest of the country for the lawmakers to have divided attention in view of the pending elections.

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The President of the Senate also urged the Executive Arm of government hasten the release of funds for implementation of the 2018 Budget.

Senator Saraki said despite the sterling achievements of the Senate in the past three years, it must be prepared to tackle all emerging national challenges and see to the improvement of security in the country.

Meanwhile; hundreds of protesters have stormed the National Assembly complex in Abuja, as the federal lawmakers returned to work after three weeks recess to mark the end of the third session of the Eighth National Assembly.

Our correspondent James Igah reports that the protesters waved placards and chanted slogans accusing the lawmakers of budget padding, thereby causing a lock-down of the main entrance to the Assembly complex.‎

‎One of the placards had the inscription “Saraki Must Go", in reference to the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, while another called on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, to step down.

Another placard bore an inscription reminding the National Assembly members that their job was to make laws and not to police the Executive Arm of government.

They alleged that the leadership of the National Assembly lacked the requisite credibility and ‎moral capacity to hold their positions of authority. ‎

The protesters called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, to investigate and expose federal lawmakers who ‎are in the habit of ripping off Nigerians.

The leader of the group identified as I.G. Wala expressed concerns over the bloated annual budgets of the National Assembly, which he said was to the disadvantage of nearly two hundred million other citizens.

You will recall that the President Muhammadu Buhari had while signing the 2018 Appropriation Act, expressed displeasure about some of the adjustments made to his original proposals by the National Assembly.

The two chambers of the National Assembly have since come out to defend their work on the budget in line with their constitutional role on appropriation and the need to spread projects to all nooks and crannies of Nigeria to achieve balance.

Meanwhile; security operatives deployed at the National Assembly had a hectic time holding back the protesters from gaining access into the National Assembly.

But after registering their grievances, the aggrieved Nigerian vowed to continue their agitation until the leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives respond to their queries about the 2018 Budget.