How it’s done – Shehu Sani provides insight into how NASS lawmakers pad budgets

• The development has also led to many citizens taking out time to peruse the budget which has led to the damning discovery of how lawmakers use budgetary allocations to steal massively from the unsuspecting citizenry

A former federal lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, has delved into the nitty gritty of how National Assembly members add fictitious or overinflated items and projects into Nigeria’s budgets.

In the last few days, the nation’s socio-political discourse has been awash with the furore at the national assembly over allegations of budget padding.

Matters came to a head when Bauchi North senator, Abdul Ningi, alleged that about N3.7 trillion in the 2024 Appropriation Act was untraceable as they are not tied to any project.

The allegation has plunged the National Assembly, especially the Senate, into a crisis as more revelations began to emerge on how lawmakers received millions and billions of naira in the name of constituency projects.

Although the Senate on Tuesday slammed Ningi with a three-month suspension over the allegation, the lawmaker has insisted that there are documents to back his claim.

The development has also led to many citizens taking out time to peruse the budget which has led to the damning discovery of how lawmakers use budgetary allocations to steal massively from the unsuspecting citizenry.

For example, N82.5 billion naira was budgeted for 427 boreholes at the cost N193 million for one, another instance of brazen grand larceny is the allocation of N212 billion for 1,150 streetlights at the cost of N184 million per streetlight.

While the issue continues to gain more attention from concerned Nigerians, Shehu Sani, in a post on his official X handle on Thursday, enlighten the public and shed more light on what budget padding means, and how members of the National Assembly go about the act.

According to him, “Paddling budget means tampering with the budget presented by the President or the MDAs by either adding figures to the costs of projects or inserting projects that were not in the original budget.

“For example, a Minister can say he wants to buy 5 Buckets for his Ministry at 5k each; magically, he will see 8 Buckets approved for him or 5 Buckets approved at the rate of 10k each or he will see Shovels and diggers added to his request for Buckets.”