Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has lamented that the allegation of budget padding sparked by Senator Abdul Ningi’s interview has dented the image of the Senate.
Akpabio stated this while speaking on the Senate floor on Tuesday, expressing concerns about the damage inflicted on the Senate’s integrity by the controversy.
Ningi, representing Bauchi Central, alleged in a recent interview with BBC Hausa that the National Assembly approved a budget of N25 trillion for 2024, contrary to the N28.7 trillion implemented by the Federal Government.
Consequence of Ningi’s Claim
Jerrymusa.com reports that Akpabio, during an open session, lamented the negative impact of the allegation on the Senate’s reputation.
He criticised Ningi for his initial interview and a subsequent one where he seemingly defended his initial claim of budget padding.
“Nigerians are bashing the Senate. Many Nigerians will never, in the future, come back to respect this chamber.
“The integrity of this chamber has been totally damaged, and we wanted you to repair it with your speech.
“Instead of that, you said you have more documents to prove what you are saying. This thing is in the public eye. I have not received full details up to this moment. If you had given me full details, I would have been able to know what you know.
“So far, what you know is only known to you; it is not known to any other person. I don’t know how you rushed to the press carrying different versions. The social media is very fast. From Canada to the United States to everywhere, the story was budget padding by the Senate.
“I can quote a section of the Premium Times that said, ‘This is the highest level of budget padding in Nigeria’s history where the budget passed a budget of N25 trillion but what we collected was N28 trillion,” he said.