N3trn budget padding: Presidency denies allegation, slams Sen. Ningi

The Presidency has refuted claims that it added N3 trillion to the budget for 2024 after it was passed by the National Assembly.

This came after Senator Abdul Ningi of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) made claims that the government was using a different budget from the one that was approved on January 1, 2024.

In an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, Ningi, acting on behalf of the Northern Senators’ Forum, said that President Bola Tinubu’s Federal Government was operating on a budget that was much larger than what the NASS had approved.

The parliamentarians’ claim that instead of the N28.7 trillion budget that is currently in effect, a N25 trillion budget was discussed and approved.

But the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, signed a statement in which the Presidency noted that Tinubu had first submitted a N27.5 trillion budget to the National Assembly on November 29, 2023.

Contrary to Ningi’s statements, he stated that the budget included N9.92 trillion for recurrent expenses, N8.25 trillion for debt payment, and N8.7 trillion for capital expenditures.

The Senate’s debate and eventual passage of a $25 trillion budget that was never proposed was deemed impossible, according to the President.

“Contrary to the strange view expressed by Senator Ningi, there was no way the Senate could have debated and passed a N25 trillion 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 N28.7 trillion,” the presidency insisted in the statement obtained by Persecondnews on Sunday evening.

It argued that the National Assembly only exercised its appropriation powers and increased the executive’s proposed budget by N1.2tn to N28.7tn, which President Tinubu subsequently signed into law on New Year’s Day.

On Sen. Ningi’s assertion that the 2024 budget was anti-North, the Presidency dismissed it as “far-fetched” and “unbecoming” of a leader of his stature.