As the discuss of the current alleged budget padding by the continue to take the center stage, Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the just concluded 2023 elections – Mr. Peter Obi, has expressed deep concern and disappointment over the situation.
Obi made this known through his twitter handle popular on Sunday March 10, 2024.
Recall, the Nations Newspaper had earlier reported that trouble is brewing in the Senate after the Northern Senators Forum accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio and his associates of padding the 2024 budget to the tune of N3 trillion.
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But the Senate leadership dismissed the allegation as false. The chairman of the Northern Senators Forum, Abdul Ningi (PDP – Bauchi Central) said on BBC Hausa Service that the alleged padding was discovered by consultants commissioned by the forum to scrutinise the budget. He also said the Forum would soon confront Akpabio with its findings.
“In the last three months, we have engaged consultants to review the budget for us. We have some experts that are working on it line by line,” Ningi said.
“Apart from what the National Assembly did on the floor, there was another budget that was done underground which we didn’t know.
“The new things we have discovered in the budget were not known to us. We haven’t seen them in the budget that was debated and considered on the floor of the National Assembly.”
He said: “For example, it was said that there was a budget of N28 trillion but what was passed was N25 trillion.
“So there is N3 trillion on top. Where is it, where is it going? So, we need to know this. There are a lot of things.
“We are coming up with a report and we will show the President himself and ask him if he is aware or not.”
Meanwhile on his ex-handle the Obi said “I find it deeply disconcerting and a matter of grave concern and even shameful to read about the alleged N3 trillion discrepancy between the budget approved by the Nigerian Senate and the one being implemented by the presidency.”
Meanwhile a legal practitioner Malachy Ugwummadu in his interview with The Punch said budget padding was a fraudulent act, describing it as a misrepresentation targeted at undermining the credibility and integrity of budgeting processes.
He said, “There are laws in our criminal codes which completely criminalises a deliberate misrepresentation or false information.
