Alleged Budget Padding: N3.7trn Was Later Discovered – Jarigbe On What Ningi Should’ve Done

Senator Agom Jarigbe, representing Cross River North Senatorial District, has asserted that his colleague, Senator Abdul Ningi, ought to have brought forth his allegations of budget padding to the Senate for deliberation during plenary.

Recall that Ningi, representing Bauchi Central on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had alleged that about N3.7 trillion in the 2024 budget was not tied to any project.

The allegation, however, landed him three months suspension after the Senate deliberated on the matter during plenary on Tuesday.

Speaking on the matter, Jarigbe, who appeared on Arise TV on Wednesday, said the controversial N3.7 trillion was later discovered to have been “captured under the GOEs, judiciary, National Assembly”.

According to him, Ningi should not have gone to the press to disseminate the alleged padding in the budget.

He said, “For the nobble Senators that decided to investigate the budget and even got a consultant to look at it, they probably decided to do that before Senator Ningi who is a leader of that Forum took it up.

“I don’t think it was necessary for them to do that and even go to the press, I think it would have been brought to the floor of the Senate to be discussed in our executive section.

“You discover that when the chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation explained the situation, the N3.7 trillion was discovered to have been captured under the GOEs, judiciary, national assemblies. Those were in the first line charge.

“It was like an optical illusion. N3.7 trillion was a fallacy. If it was brought to the floor of the Senate, the controversy would have been explained”.