There was some minor drama on Tuesday, March 12, at the start of the plenary session in the Red Chamber.<\/p>\n
Senators argued over Senator Abdul Ningi’s assertion that the National Assembly padded the 2024 budget with a whopping N3 trillion.<\/p>\n
At before 11 a.m., the obviously enraged chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Olamileken Adeola (Ogun West), came into the chamber, exclaiming, “No closed door, let’s do it open.”<\/p>\n
Earlier in a Saturday interview with BBC Hausa, Senator Ningi said that the budget being implemented by the Presidency is N28.7 trillion, whereas the one approved by the National Assembly for the 2024 fiscal year is N25 trillion.<\/p>\n
In the interview, Senator Ningi was quoted as saying, \u201cFor the first time in Nigerian history, today we are operating two different budgets. One budget was approved by the National Assembly and signed by President Bola Tinubu and the one was implemented by the presidency.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stated: \u201cThe one approved by us is \u20a625tn while the one operating by Federal Government is \u20a628tn.<\/p>\n
\u201cApparently, we discovered \u20a63tn was inserted into the budgets for projects without locations. This is the highest budget padding that happened in Nigerian history under Senator Akpabio\u2019s watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senator Adeola read the transcribed version of Senator Ningi\u2019s BBC Hausa Interview and called on the Senate to immediately take action as he is guilty of breach of privilege.<\/p>\n
The majority of senators supported this move, including Senator Joel Onowakpa, who seconded the motion raised by Senator Olamilekan.<\/p>\n
However, Senator Adamu Aliero pleaded with the Senate to give Ningi the opportunity to defend himself.<\/p>\n
Ningi was also seen carrying a bunch of heavy documents, dropping them on his table and shouting \u201cgive me the opportunity to defend myself.\u201d.<\/p>\n
Responding to this, Akpabio said: \u201cWe give you respect as a ranking Senator, but if you stop talking and give Senator Ningi the opportunity to jump up and start talking, we won\u2019t allow that. This is not BBC Hausa.\u201d<\/p>\n
The National Assembly led by the Appropriation Committee had passed an appropriation of N22.7tn for the 2024 fiscal year.<\/p>\n
Reacting on the floor of the senate, Ningi on Tuesday denied saying the 2024 budget was padded.<\/p>\n
At the Senate open session, Ningi described comments attributed to him as fake.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have never said somebody was blinded. Secondly, I have never said the budget was padded,\u201d the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator told his colleagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me concur to about 80 per cent of the translation read out by Senator Yayi. I think they have done a fair job, except on some issues they could not understand.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe beginning of this brouhaha started with this text. Senator Abdu Ningi is purported to be the author of this document. Let me for the avoidance of doubt, I have never issued a statement of this nature to anybody anywhere and anytime.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want members of this Senate to record it, this is a fake observation that was forwarded, I do not know the author of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the upper legislative chamber immediately descended into chaos when Jarigbe Jarigbe, senator representing Cross River north, claimed that some \u201colder senators\u201d got N500 million in the budget for projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you see me go to the media?\u201d Jarigbe said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There was some minor drama on Tuesday, March 12, at the start of the plenary session in the Red Chamber. Senators argued over Senator Abdul Ningi’s assertion that the National Assembly padded the 2024 budget with a whopping N3 trillion. At before 11 a.m., the obviously enraged chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Olamileken […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":314232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"2","single_blog_custom":"211693","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"0","show_prev_next_post":"0","show_popup_post":"0","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_override_bookmark_settings":{"override_bookmark_button":"0","override_show_bookmark_button":"0"},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4],"tags":[77179,67281,77177,77178],"class_list":["post-314228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking","category-politics","tag-2024-budget-padding-claim","tag-ningi","tag-rowdy-session","tag-senators-debate"],"yoast_head":"\n