Alleged budget padding Senators
The Senate on Tuesday slammed a three-month suspension on the senator representing Bauchi Central and chairman, Northern Senators Forum, Mohammed Abdul Ningi.
Senator representing Ogun West, who incidentally is the chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Solomon Olamilekan, formally brought to the notice of the Red Chamber the controversial interview granted the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Hausa Service, by Senator Ningi.
The embattled Bauchi lawmaker had claimed that the budget estimate passed by the Senate was N25 trillion as against the N28.7 trillion reflected in the Appropriation Act.
In his ‘Motion of Urgent National Importance, Urgent Need to Address the False Allegations against the Senate and the Presidency on the 2024 Appropriation Act’ by Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central), the chairman Senate Committee recalled that following the presentation of the 2024 Appropriation Bill of N27.5 trillion by President Bola Tinubu to the joint sitting of the Senate and the House of Representatives on Wednesday 29th November,2023, and following the debates of the general principles of the bill at Second Reading from Thursday 30th November to Friday 1st December, 2023, the bill was committed to the Committee on Appropriations for further legislative action.
He also noted that to attain the January-December Budget Cycle, sub-committees submitted their harmonized reports to the Committee on Appropriation and the report of the committee submitted to the Senate was unanimously passed on Saturday 30th December, 2023 and a budget of N28.77 trillion was assented to by the president on the 1st January, 2024.
Giving further insight into how the budget estimate for appropriation was increased, Senator Adeola revealed that the additional increase of N1.2 trillion to what was presented by the president came during the appropriation process through additional funding requests and some items of expenditure to the committee that were not included in the bill as submitted by the president and were meant to address additional funding for the Judiciary, Agriculture and Food Security, Works, Science and Technology, Education, Water Resources, National Assembly, Health and National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme.
“Also aware that the additional source of funding for the increase came from the increase in the benchmark of naira to dollar from N750-N800, increase in Government Owned Enterprises (GOEs) revenue and other sources.”
The senator further clarified that some of the budgetary allocations did not reflect in the Appropriation Bill because the beneficiary agencies were on statutory First Line Charge.
The chairman Senate Committee on Appropriation offered further clarifications.
He said: “For the records, the N25 trillion Senator Ningi and his ‘consultants’ presented as the budget (N25.45 trillion approximately) being implemented by the Executive is the details of the budgets of all MDAs. It is unfortunate and regrettable that Senator Ningi and his consultants did not take into account that the budgets of some bodies are not captured in the details but in the summary of the Appropriation Act as passed.
“All appropriations for Statutory Transfers, Government Owned Enterprises (GOEs) and TETFUND are only in the summary of the Act and not in the details.
“The total sum of these appropriations captured in the summary and not in details as it is constitutional and in line with our budgetary process is N3.32 trillion.
“The make-up of the N3.32 trillion is provided below:
National Judicial Council: 341,625,739,236
National Assembly N344,852,880,669
Public Complaints Commission (N14,460,000,000)
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC): N40,000,000,000
Government-Owned Enterprises (Recurrent): 1,059,617,780,421
TETFund (Recurrent)N35,000,000,000
Government-Owned Enterprises (Capital): N820, 908, 398, 828
Tetfund (Capital)N665,000,000,000
TotalN3,321,464,799,154
“A simple arithmetic by Senator Ningi and his ‘consultants’ of the MDAs details and the figures of Statutory Transfers, GOEs and TETFUND in the summary would amount to exactly the figures of the passed 2024 Appropriation of N28.77 trillion.
“So, the Executive is implementing the 2024 Appropriation Act as passed by the National Assembly and not dual budgets that Senator Ningi is leading Nigerian public to believe.
“From this false figure of the 2024 Budget as N25 trillion, it is not surprising that a false claim of “the Senate president inserting projects worth N4 trillion in the 2024 budget” without location “were discreetly inserted”, could be made in the story. This is false and the Northern Senators are challenged to name such projects worth N4 trillion without location if any of such exists.”
An agitated Senator Adeola told his colleagues that his privileges and those of his colleagues who participated in the preparation of the Appropriation Bill and the entire Senate had been breached by allegations raised by Senator Ningi who he maintained misinformed Nigerians in the controversial interview “where he made false and grave allegations against the Executive, the President of the Senate and the Senate whereby he alleged that the 2024 Appropriation Act passed by the National Assembly and being implemented by the Executive is N25 trillion instead of N28.77 trillion indicating a padding of N3 trillion.
“On the basis of this falsehood, Senator Ningi further claimed that there is a budget done underground, meaning that the Federal Government is operating two national budgets.”
Senator Adeola also pointed fingers of scorn at Senator representing Kano South, Senator Suleiman Kawu, a member of the Northern Senators Forum who “posted the audio copy of the interview on senators’ exclusive social media platform.
How Senators Ibrahim, Bamidele set tone for Ningi’s suspension
Senator Adeola in his motion has urged the Senate that Order 1(b) of the Senate Standing Order 2023 (as amended) “allows immediate deliberation of this matter”and take appropriate action deemed fit in the overriding public interest and as a matter of urgent public importance to prevent breakdown of law and order.
He also called for further necessary steps to correct the wrong impression in public domain of 2024 budget created by the BBC interview and other national media houses and social media platforms by Senator Ningi and amplified by Senator Kawu through his Facebook account and other social media platforms.
Efforts by lawmakers, particularly from the North, to save Ningi from suspension by the leadership of the Senate failed as they were overwhelmed by angry colleagues.
Those in the vanguard of reprieve for Ningi were Senators AdamuAliero and Ali Ndume.
Even when given the floor to open his defence in deference to Senator Aliero’s demand for fair hearing, Senator Ningi clarified that a budget of N28.77 trillion was passed but allocation to the tune of over N3 trillion could not be traced.
He also indicted the Senate leadership whom he accused of dedicating huge some for projects in their constituencies.
Senator representing Cross Rivers North, Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe also accused the leadership of the Senate of feathering their own nests.
“All of us are culpable. Some so-called Senior Senators here got N500 million each from the 2024 budget. I am a ranking senator, I didn’t get anything. No senator has a right to accuse Senator Ningi,” he said.
Senator representing Kogi West, Sunday Karimi, insisted that the duo of Senators Ningi and Kawu be axed.
“My colleagues, what is important here is our integrity as a whole. What has been established here is the fact that the so-called N3 trillion padding is a lie. Two, the appropriation made this year where those items on statutory transfers were not included isn’t different from what has been happening for years! That’s the standard that make our budget. So, all the information being passed around was misinformation by Senator Ningi and Senator Kawu. So, we have to establish that one before we can move forward. They have to own up to their mistakes.
Checks revealed that the duo of Senator representing Ondo South, Jimoh Ibrahim and Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele set the tone for the suspension of Senator Ningi.
Senator representing Ekiti Central, Opeyemi Bamidele, who is the Leader of the Senate, had urged the Senate to rebuff appeals for reprieve for Senator Ningi.
He declared that certain aggrieved lawmakers who lost out in the race for leadership of the tenth Senate in the last June election were smarting for showdown with Senator Godswill Akpabio.
He said: “What Abdul Ningi wanted to do was tantamount to a civilian coup. It is always about Akpabio; never about the House of Representatives or the President. It is not about North and South; it is about our rules.
“We must never accept any apology from Senator Ningi. It is ridiculous to do so. He lied deliberately. He did it on purpose. He knew he was lying. He set the public against you, he will do it again. We must apply our sanction.”
Senator Ibrahim in his additional motion urged the Senate to suspend Senator Ningi for “an initial period of 12 months, and that he should stay away from the National Assembly during the period.
“The Senate should send a warning letter to Senator SumaliaKawu and make him to apologise,” he said
Following spirited efforts by certain lawmakers who sought for amendment to the motion, the Red Chamber reduced the timeline for Ningi’s suspension from a year to three months.
Ruling on the amendment to the prayer, Senator Akpabiothen said: “Senator Ningi is hereby suspended for three months from all activities connected to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Ningi relied on false premise —Senate spokesman
The Senate on Tuesday defended the three-month suspension it slammed on Senator Abdul Ningiover his claim that the 2024 budget was inflated by over N3.7 trillion.
Speaking after the Senate rose on Tuesday, the chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Sen. YemiAdaramodu, said Ningi based his allegation on a false premise.
He noted that when the lawmaker was given ample opportunity to substantiate the allegation, he was unable to do so, in the full glare of the Senate.
Adaramodu stated that the N3.7trillionNingi claimed could not be tracked turned out to be the statutory transfers to government bodies and agencies placed on First Line Charge in the budget.
According to him, the allocations to the nine bodies, including the Judiciary, the NEC, pensions and the National Assemblytotalled N3.7trillion, the same amount Ningi alleged could not be traced.
Adaramodu further stated that Ningi was not only a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, but also that the committee had the Senate Whip and member of the NSF, Sen. Ali Ndume, as the deputy chairman.
“Today, on the floor of the Senate, the issue of budget padding was put to rest when the protagonists of the allegation were called upon but they didn’t provide any proof.
“Senators of the northern extraction dissociated themselves from the allegation. Ningi initially said he spoke for them, but he later changed mind to say he spoke for himself,” Adaramodu said.
Reacting to another claim by Sen. JarigbeAgom-Jerigbe (Cross River-North) that some “senior senators” received N500million each as allocation for their constituency projects in the budget, the Senate spokesman dismissed it as “not true.”
Adaramodu told Senate Correspondents that, like Ningi who acted on a false premise, Agom-Jerigbe too relied on information passed to him by some persons, not that he had the facts.
“Ningi was suspended for three months and given a passive parole that after writing a letter of apology, his suspension could be lifted.
“If he writes a letter of apology, he has systematically admitted and atoned for his sins, which means the Senate can look at his case again,” the spokesman said.
Ningi Resigns as Northern Senators forum chairman
Meanwhile, Senator Ningi has resigned his position as the chairman, Northern Senators Forum.
His resignation is contained in a letter his addressed to the Secretary, Northern Senators Forum dated 11th March, 2024.
In the letter sighted by Nigerian Tribune, the embattled senator wrote: “I will like to resign my position as the chairman of Northern Senators forum.
“This is of course necessitated by unfolding events in the National Assembly, the North and the nation at large.”
Tinubu meets Akpabio
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu met with the Senate president and his deputy, Barau Jibrin, moments after the Senate suspended Senator Abdul Ningi.
The meeting was held behind closed-doors in the president’s office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Even though its agenda was not disclosed, there were indications that it was not unconnected with the development earlier on the floor of the Senate.