An allegation by the chairman, Northern Senators’ Forum, Abdul Ningi, that Senate President Godswill Akpabio inserted projects worth N3 trillion in the 2024 budget, based on analysis of public records as regarding the budget passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on Saturday, December 30, 2023, has contradicted the senators’ claim.
Ningi, had in a BBC Hausa interview, said the budget in operation is different from what the Parliament passed in December last year, adding that senators had engaged a consultant to investigate the padding of the budget.
Ningi’s claims have, however, divided Northern senators, with fellow senators berating Ningi for his accusation, which they said were baseless.
According to the constitution of Nigeria, the National Assembly comprises the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The president presents his budget packages to the National Assembly at a joint meeting of the two houses. This meeting is known as the budget session. It is up to the National Assembly to approve, modify or reject the Bill.
Recall that the National Assembly raised the appropriation bill from N27.5 trillion presented by President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday, November 29th to N28.7 trillion. President Bola Tinubu signed the N28. 7 trillion 2024 appropriation bill into law on Monday, January 1, 2024 at the presidential villa in Abuja.
Speaking after signing the document, the president said the implementation of the budget would be “efficiently pursued and vigorously monitored”. Some of the key estimates are capital expenditure, N10 trillion; recurrent expenditure, N8.8 trillion; debt service, N8.2 trillion, and statutory transfers, N1.7 trillion.
Some of the senators who spoke on confidentiality said what Ningi did was self-indictment.
“Who prepared the budget? All the committees were the ones that prepared the budget. Our own is to compile the budget. Our mandate did not say, make sure that the North got equal amount with the South. No. So what are they talking about? It’s self-indictment. Who passed the budget?” a northern Senator who is a member of the appropriation committee said.
According to him, of the lawmakers in the appropriation committee, those of northern extraction are more than those from the southern part of the country.
“Who is the budget minister? Is he not from the North? Atiku Bagudu is from the North and he is the minister of budget. The minister of finance is from Lagos but he does not prepare the budget. He executes the budget. Who prepared the budget? Who gives each MDA a ceiling? Then in the budget team, the southerners are in the minority – the two committees in the Senate and in the House of Representatives,” another Senator not happy with Ningi’s claims said.
“The chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation is from North West and the buck stops there. Solomon Adeola is the chairman of Appropriation Committee and he is from Southwest, but he did not prepare the budget.
“Now I’m hearing another story. The chairman in the House says if you total the budget, the North has more than the South. So you see, it has now become an argument and I don’t want to start talking to you without facts,” the lawmaker said.
“Last time, you remember, they said that the capital allocation has been skewed to the South; that out of the N15 trillion, they gave a breakdown and one of us, Aliyu Wadada to be specific, Kawu Samaila and others brought it out and it was in the media.
“But the total capital allocation then was N9.9 trillion. And the so-called figures that they threw up there is N15 trillion. So how does that add up? If you say that the South has taken more, and the whole capital budget is N9.9 trillion, and you are saying the capital budget is N15 trillion, where did they get the N6 trillion? That was how the matter died down.
“But the total capital allocation then was N9.9 trillion. And the so-called figures that they threw up there is N15 trillion. So how does that add up? If you say that the South has taken more, and the whole capital budget is N9.9 trillion, and you are saying the capital budget is N15 trillion, where did they get the N6 trillion? That was how the matter died down.
“Now, they said they have a document and they employed a consultant. And that the consultant said that the budget is skewed. And that the budget is actually N25 trillion. Now who are you indicting? So it means the National Assembly padded the budget with N3 trillion. Who added the N3 trillion?
“Not only Ningi, the members of the caucus or senators from the north are more than the number of senators from the south. They are just trying to indict us,” the lawmaker said.
Another lawmaker who was also privy of an earlier meeting with the Senate President, said some of them jettisoned the meeting because it lacked facts.