The claims by the Chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, Abdul Ningi, that over N3 trillion have been inserted in the 2024 budget have divided Northern Senators.
Even though Ningi said they have engaged consultant to investigate the padding of the budget, added that what the National Assembly passed is different from what is been implemented.
But 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, he has counted the number of lawmakers in the appropriation committee and found out that those from the northern extractions 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 put 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 bulk 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 say 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.
“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 the 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 jettison the meeting because it lacked facts.
“We demanded for evidence to justify their claims that the North had been short changed. We even asked them to make the report of their investigation on the alleged skewed budget, with relevant documents. At the meeting, the Senate President told them that he was not aware of any budget padding and challenged Ningi to submit to the Senate leadership, a copy of the report presented to him by the team of consultants which allegedly spotted the padded N3 trillion,” the lawmaker said.
