Padding: Presidency confirms NASS added ₦1.27tn to 2024 budget

The Presidency has reacted to the allegation that the 2024 budget was inflated by ₦3trn, clarifying that the National Assembly only added ₦1.27tn to the executive proposal.

The reaction followed the issue of budget padding raised by a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senator representing Bauchi Central Senatorial District, Abdul Ningi.

Ningi was quoted in a BBC Hausa report on Saturday, March 9, 2024, to have claimed that the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government was operating an ₦28trn budget, different from the ₦25trn approved by lawmakers.

“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,” the senator alleged.

But, the Presidency, in a statement said the National Assembly added ₦1.27tn to the 2024 budget, stressing that it does “not see where the ₦3tn is coming from.

“What we know is that the NASS approved a budget of ₦28tn which the President signed. What the President signed was the budget approved by the National Assembly, by the two houses.

“The 2023 supplementary budget was passed separately to run concurrently with this year’s budget until March,” Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, stated.

In the same vein, Senate Spokesperson Senator Yemi Adaramodu debunked Ningi’s allegation, noting that the budget was a public document and was in the public space for Nigerians to peruse.

“There is no budget padding as far as the Senate and the National Assembly are concerned.

“The national budget is a public document, which expressly states the expected revenue and the expenditure of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The Senate under the leadership of Senator Godswill Akpabio is not aware of any varied execution of the 2024 appropriation mandate, as approved,” Adaramodu stated.