By Ken Afor
Mr. Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), has described the alleged padding of the 2024 budget with N3 trillion as shameful.
Mr. Obi, who said this in a post on his verified handle, called on the presidency and the Senate to explain to Nigerians the purpose and process behind this addition of funds.
It would be recalled that Senator Abdul Ningi, representing Bauchi Central in the National Assembly, claimed that the National Assembly debated and approved a budget of N25 trillion for the year 2024, which is lower than the N28.7 trillion budget being implemented by the Federal Government.
According to Senator Ningi, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in an interview with BBC Hausa last Friday, Northern lawmakers consulted the help of a private auditor to scrutinize the budget and discovered irregularities in the budget.
Reacting to the development, Obi, a former Governor of Anambra state, said that the alleged discrepancy is particularly worrisome because it accounts for over 10% of the country’s national budget, which is estimated at N29 trillion.
According to him, it surpasses the combined budgets allocated for education (N1.54 trillion) and health (N1.38 trillion).
He wrote: “I find it deeply disconcerting and a matter of grave concern and even shameful to read about the alleged N3 trillion discrepancy between the budget approved by the Nigerian Senate and the one being implemented by the presidency.
“One Senator claims there is a separate budget, allegedly containing the N3 trillion, that differs from what was passed by the National Assembly.
“This alleged discrepancy is especially worrying because it represents over 10% of our national budget (estimated at N29 trillion) and is more than the combined education (N1.54 trillion) and health (N1.38 trillion) official budgets.
“We also deserve full accountability of all our scarce resources placed in public trust. Therefore, we, the Nigerian people, demand a public explanation from both the National Assembly and the Presidency regarding the purpose and process of adding this alleged N3 trillion.”
