The Presidency has debunked claims by the senator representing Bauchi Central Senatorial District, Abdul Ningi, that President Bola Tinubu’s administration is operating two versions of the 2024 budget.
Ningi had said there was another budget different from what was passed on the floor of the National Assembly.
The senator, in an interview with BBC on Saturday, March 9, alleged that the 2024 budget passed by the National Assembly was inflated, saying what was passed by the lawmakers was N25 trillion and not N28 trillion.
“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,” the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker declared.
Reacting to the claims, the Presidency, in a statement issued on Sunday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said there is no truth in the allegation.
Onanuga noted that President Tinubu, on November 29, 2023, presented a budget of N27.5 trillion to the joint session of the National Assembly made up of N9.92 trillion recurrent expenditure, debt service N8.25 trillion, and capital expenditure N8.7 trillion.
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The presidential spokesman stressed that Tinubu did not present a budget of N25 trillion to the lawmakers.
He added: “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 National Assembly, in its wisdom, increased the amount proposed by the Executive by N1.2 trillion.
“In the spirit of democracy which allows give and take, President Tinubu didn’t withhold his assent to the Appropriation Bill as passed by the National Assembly. We want to stress that if the budget figure was increased and made to be different from what the Executive proposed, it was the National Assembly that jacked it up in exercise of its power of appropriation.”
On the senator’s claim that the 2024 budget was anti-North, Onanauga said the allegation was “too far-fetched and unbecoming of a leader of his status”.
“President Tinubu is leading a government that is fair and equitable to every part and segment of Nigeria. In terms of funding, distribution of capital and priority projects, the 2024 Appropriation Act was not skewed against any section of the country,” the presidential spokesman stressed.
Onanuga, however, commended the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, for “setting the record straight”, just as he lauded Senators Steve Sunday Karimi (Kogi), Titus Tartenger Zam (Benue), and Kaka Sheu (Borno) for “their forthrightness and for coming out against the misrepresentation of facts by Senator Ningi”.
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