Budget padding allegations untrue, says presidency

The Presidency has denied allegations of padding the 2024 budget by an additional N3tn.

This followed accusations by Senator Abdul Ningi of Bauchi Central (PDP) that the executive is implementing a budget other than the one approved on January 1, 2024.

This came as Senate said it would meet over the matter on Tuesday, using its internal mechanisms and control process.

Ningi, under the aegis of the Northern Senators’ Forum, had contended in a BBC Hausa Service interview that the Federal Government, led by President Bola Tinubu, was executing a budget significantly higher than what was passed by the NASS.

According to the lawmaker, a N25tn budget was debated and passed, not the N28.7tn that is currently being implemented.

“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 N28tn but what was passed was N25 trillion. So there is N3tn on top. Where are they, where is it going? So, we need to know this. There are a lot of things,” said Ningi.

The lawmaker also revealed plans to meet President Bola Tinubu later this week saying, “We are coming up with a report and we will show the president himself and ask him if he is aware or not.”

He revealed that the forum had commissioned consultants to evaluate the 2024 budget to unearth how N3tn was surreptitiously included in the amount passed by lawmakers.

However, in a statement signed by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency described Ningi’s claims as “false” asserting that Tinubu had initially presented a N27.5tn budget to the National Assembly on November 29, 2023.

It said this budget included N9.92tn for recurrent expenditure, N8.25tn for debt service, and N8.7tn for capital expenditure, contrasting Ningi’s claims.

The Presidency emphasised that it was implausible for the Senate to have debated and passed a N25tn budget that was never presented.

“Contrary to the strange view expressed by Senator Ningi, there was no way the Senate could have debated and passed a N25tn budget that was not presented to the National Assembly.

“We don’t expect a ranking Senator not to pay due attention to details before making wild claims.

“It is also important to let Nigerians know that the budget that President Tinubu signed into law on January 1, 2024, as passed by the National Assembly was N28.7tn,” Onanuga insisted.