2024 Budget Padding: Senate Meets Over Claims, May Suspend Bauchi Lawmaker

The Senate will meet on Tuesday, March 12, over the damning allegations made by Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central-PDP), that the Tinubu-led government is implementing a budget not approved by the National Assembly.

Senator Ningi, speaking on behalf of the Northern Senators’ Forum during an interview with BBC Hausa, alleged that the National Assembly debated and passed N25 trillion as the 2024 budget and not the N28.7 trillion being implemented by the Federal Government.

He said: “Apart from what the National Assembly did on the floor, there was another budget that was done underground, which we didn’t know.

“The new things we have discovered in the budget were not known to us. We haven’t seen them in the budget that was debated and considered on the floor of the National Assembly.”

“For example, it was said that there was a budget of N28 trillion, but what was passed was N25 trillion,” Ningi added.

He also revealed plans to meet President Bola Tinubu later this week, saying, “We are coming up with a report, and we will show the president himself and ask him if he is aware or not.”

But the presidency, in a statement titled ‘THE FACTS ABOUT 2024 BUDGET’ by the Special Adviser to the President on Information & Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, accused Senator Ningi of making wild claims.

He stated that the presidency considers it appropriate to inform Nigerians that there is no truth whatsoever in the allegation made by the lawmaker.

According to The PUNCH, some senators may call for the suspension of Ningi over the claims, which some have described as unfounded.

Sources disclose that the lawmakers are angry with the lawmaker for allegedly making claims that could paint the Senate in a bad light.

Some senators and members of the House of Representatives have been meeting since Ningi’s interview surfaced online.

One of such meeting was held at the Senate wing of the National Assembly, where some lawmakers, including members of the Executive of the Northern Senators Forum, reportedly distanced themselves from Ningi’s statement.

One of the lawmakers specifically said the northern bloc of the Senate would address a Press Conference on Monday to clear its name from the allegations raised by the forum’s chairman.

Speaking to journalists on Sunday, Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Solomon Adeola (APC Ogun West), stated that his initial plan to address the issue of alleged budget padding had been withdrawn.

He explained that the Senate would address the issue through internal legislative mechanisms.

Adeola said since an allegation of budget padding was made by a serving Senator who participated in the consideration and passage of the budget, the best place to react was in the Senate Chamber on Tuesday.

He said, “As you people can see, many Senators across the six geo-political zones are here with me to react to what a senator said at the weekend on alleged two versions of the 2024 budget, but after realizing that there are laid down procedures and processes to follow in dealing with such a matter involving an insider, we have decided, to shift the venue of reaction to the Senate Chamber on Tuesday, after which, journalists would be briefed adequately.”