ALLEGED 3.7 TRILLION BUDGET PADDING: SEN. OLAMILEKAN ADEOLA CLEARS AIR AS SEN. ABDUL NINGI GETS 3 MONTHS SUSPENSION

The Senator representing Ogun West Senatorial District, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola and the Chairman of Senate Committee on Appropriation (10th Senate) today cleared the air on the alleged budget padding to the tune of 3.7 trillion naira levelled by Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi who is Senator representing Bauchi Central Senatorial District and doubles as Chairman, Northern Senators Forum.

In an interview granted BBC Hausa Service last week, Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi had claimed that the Federal Government of Nigeria is implementing a 2024 Appropriation Act worth N28.7 trillion as against N25 trillion passed by the Senate and assented by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The notarised transcription of the disputed interview of Senator Ningi with BBC Hausa Service was read out by Senator Adeola having come under the Senate Standing Orders 9,10,41 and 51 (2022 amended).

In his motion today, Senator Solomon Adeola explained that there are some apparatus of government that do not have their budget details contained in the 2024 Appropriation Act. The government apparatus which do not have their budget details made public as cited by Sen. Adeola are nine in number. They are the Judiciary, the National Assembly, the Public Complaints Commission, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Universal Basic Education Commission, (UBEC), and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND). Others are Northeast Development Commission (NEDC), the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and some government-owned enterprises. He noted that these apparatus of government are responsible for the differentials in the total sum of the 2024 Annual Budget.

Although Senator Adeola has cleared the air, whether there is need to keep increasing the cost of governance accruing to the said apparatus of government, especially at a time that the economy is gasping for breath, is debatable. Also, the suspended Senator Abdul Ningi has the opportunity to prove that the budget was indeed padded.