- Demands Answer From Tinubu
By Abiola Olawale
The Nigerian Senate has been rocked by a new controversy after allegations of inappropriate padding of the 2024 budget by N3 trillion, triggering a new wave of tension in the Upper legidlative Chambers.
The Northern Senators Forum (NSF) who came up with the allegation currently rocking the Senate, said that its auditors have uncovered a N3 trillion increase in the 2024 budget approved by the Senate for subsequent signing into Law by President Bola Tinubu.
The Chairman of the NSF, Senator Abdul Ningi, who represents Bauchi Senatorial district, while speaking during an interview session with the member of the press claimed that the budget padding has caused a huge damage to the north and the integrity of the Country.
He alleged that the budget which was passed during plenary was reworked underground and padded with N3trn. Ningi further said the Northern lawmakers caucus has resolved to take the matter to the President to seek answers to their observations.
According to him, “For the past three months, we have engaged consultants to review the budget for us. We have some experts who are working on it line by line:
He revealed further: “We have seen the huge damage that was done not only to the north but to the entire country in that budget. We are supposed to sit with the Senate President to inform him about what we have observed.
“We want to show him what we have seen in the budget that is not acceptable; we will not accept them, and we don’t want the country to continue spending money on those things.
“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. So there is N3 trillion on top.
“Where are they? Where is it going? So, we need to know this. There are a lot of things. We are coming up with a report, and we will show the president himself and ask him if he is aware or not.”
The New Diplomat reports that in December 2023, the two arms of the National Assembly passed the 2024 appropriation bill into law. The bill saw an increase from N27.5 trillion proposed by Tinubu to N28.7 trillion.
