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Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election has described the allegation of an additional ₦3 trillion padded into the 2024 budget as shameful and insensitive to Nigerians’ plight.
Obi said this in his reaction to the claim by Senator Abdul Ningi of Bauchi Central (PDP) that the executive is implementing a budget that the National Assembly did not approve.
According to Ningi, the National Assembly debated and passed a ₦25tn budget, not the ₦28.7tn that is currently being implemented.
“It was said that there was a budget of ₦28tn but what was passed was ₦25 trillion. So there is ₦3tn on top. Where are they, where is it going? So, we need to know this. There are a lot of things,” the lawmaker alleged.
Obi reacts
Reacting to the allegation, the former Governor of Anambra State in a statement on Twitter said the alleged ₦3 trillion discrepancy between the budget approved by the Nigerian Senate and the one implemented by the presidency is worrying.
According to Obi, the discrepancy represents 10% of the national budget, adding that the allegation underscored a “lack of transparency in managing public funds” and “a breach of trust between the Nigerian people and their elected leaders.
He said, “One Senator claims there is a separate budget, allegedly containing the ₦3 trillion, that differs from what was passed by the National Assembly. This alleged discrepancy is especially worrying because it represents over 10% of our national budget (estimated at ₦29 trillion) and is more than the combined education (₦1.54 trillion) and health (₦1.38 trillion) official budgets.
“This lack of transparency in managing public funds is a breach of trust between the Nigerian people and their elected leaders. With insecurity, hunger, poverty, inflation, and unemployment plaguing the nation, these actions are insensitive to the people’s plight. Every naira of our budget, especially in these challenging times, should be judiciously used to build a better Nigeria.”
He, therefore, asked the National Assembly and the Presidency to explain how the alleged amount was padded into the 2024 budget.
Presidency denies budget padding allegation
Meanwhile, the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has dismissed Senator Ningi’s claim as false.
Contrary to Ningi’s claim, Onanuga said the alleged ₦25tn budget was never presented to the Senate.
In a statement on Saturday, March 9, 2024, the president’s spokesperson said “There was no way the Senate could have debated and passed a ₦25tn budget that was not presented to the National Assembly.”
He went on to slam the lawmaker saying “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 ₦28.7tn,” Onanuga maintained.