Chairman of the Senate Committee on Population, Abdul Ningi, on Monday, insisted that N3.7tn was inserted in the 2024 Appropriation Bill.
Ningi, however, said he was misquoted, claiming not to have never mentioned that President Bola Tinubu was operating two budgets.
The Senator added that he granted his recent interview on the matter as a lawmaker and not on behalf of the Northern Senators Forum.
Ningi had in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (Hausa Service) on Saturday, alleged that the budget passed by the National Assembly for the 2024 fiscal year is N25tn while the one being implemented by the Presidency is N28.7tn.
The lawmaker, in the interview, was quoted as saying, “For the first time in Nigerian history, today we are operating two different budgets. One budget was approved by the National Assembly and signed by President Bola Tinubu and the one was implemented by the Presidency.
“The one approved by us is ₦25tn while the one operating by the Federal Government is ₦28tn.
“Apparently, we discovered ₦3tn was inserted into the budgets for projects without locations. This is the highest budget padding that happened in Nigerian history under Senator Akpabio’s watch.”
Ningi was further quoted to have said, “We resolved as people representatives to see President Tinubu on this issue, with facts and figures, to ask him if he is aware of this embarrassment or not, then from there we will take action.
“Let Nigerians be patient with us. This is a national issue; it affects all Nigerians irrespective of party, tribe or religion.”
Senate, through its spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu (APC, Ekiti South) refuted the claim on Saturday, stating that there was no padding whatsoever in the budget.
But Ningi told journalists on Monday that he never said that the President was running two budgets, claiming that there was a N3.7tn yet to be accounted for.
He stood his ground, saying he was prepared for actions to be taken against him.
“I am not afraid of suspension by the Senate. I stand by what I said: N3.7 trillion not traced to any project in the 2024 Budget. I spoke for myself and not on behalf of the Northern Senator Forum. I never said the federal government is operating with two budgets. I only said N25 trillion was traced to projects and N3.7 trillion was not traced to any project.
“At no time did I say Bola Ahmed Tinubu is implementing two budgets.
“There was no time, at no time did I say Bola Tinubu was biased against the North. The Hausa version is there. At no time did I say Bola Ahmed Tinubu is implementing the N25tn budget.
“I said we have established beyond reasonable doubt that N25tn so far has nexus in the budget.
“That means that there is money, there is a project and then there is location. But we are yet to ascertain N3tn of that budget.
“We have established the N3tn of that budget, we have not established its location and the place.”
He added, “But I said going forward, the budget evaluation is ongoing. And I said lastly, the intention of the northern senators as regards budgetary allocation was to meet the Senate President with our findings and subsequently meet President Bola Ahmed Tinubu with our findings.
“So if one is questioning our desire to relate with Bola Tinubu, how will I say that the findings of the Northern Senators Forum will go to the Senate president and then to the president and commander-in-chief?”