Senator representing Cross River North, Agom Jarigbe, revealed on Tuesday that some ranking senators received N500 million in projects allocated for each of them in the 2024 budget.
Jarigbe made the revelation during plenary while commenting on an allegation of budget padding made against the Senate by the senator representing Bauchi Central Senatorial District, Abdul Ningi.
Ranking senators are those who have spent more than one term of four years in the upper chamber.
Ningi, recently, told BBC Hausa that the lawmakers sought the service of a private auditor and discovered irregularities in the budget.
“Example, we had a budget of N28 trillion but after our thorough checks, we found out that it was a budget of N25 trillion. How and where did we get the additional N3 trillion from, what are we spending it for?” Ningi told BBC Hausa.
The northern senators, under the aegis of the Northern Senators Forum (NSF), confronted the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and accused him of inserting projects worth N4 trillion in the 2024 budget.
Commenting on the allegation, Jarigbe, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), highlighted that the majority of the senators are guilty of the budget padding scandal because some of the senior senators got N500 million each from the budgetary allocation.
“If we want to go into this issue, all of us are culpable. Some senators here, so-called senior senators, got N500 million each. I am a ranking senator. I didn’t get it. Did I go to the press? We don’t have to go into those issues,” Jarigbe said.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, muted Jarigbe’s mic to prevent people from hearing the details of the N500 million.
The Senate immediately erupted in a rowdy session for about 30 minutes before Akpabio directed the senators to return to their various seats.
“Let me read out Section 66 of our constitution. Every senator should be seated and make no noise. We must not forget that we are under the strict rules of our Standing Order. It is important for us to obey the rules,” Akpabio said while trying to control the rowdy session.
Meanwhile, the Senate Spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, while addressing journalists after the plenary, debunked Jarigbe’s claim of N500 million.
This is the second time that the distribution of money to the senators will attract public attention.
Previous controversial largesse
Last August, each of the senators illegally got not less than N2 million as allowance before proceeding on seven weeks of vacation.
The N2 million allowance given to the senators was illegal as no such provision is made in the remuneration package approved Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the body authorised by law to prepare salaries and allowances for public servants.
During the plenary that day, Akpabio told the senators that some money had been credited to their accounts to enjoy their holidays.
“In order to enable all of us to enjoy our holidays, a token has been sent to our various accounts by the Clerk of the National Assembly,” he said.
There is also no provision for “token” in the RMAFC’s document, as stated by Akpabio while announcing the largesse to the senators.
According to the package prepared by RMAFC, a senator earns N2,026,400 and therefore gets N202,240 as a recess allowance per annum.
The basic salary of the senate president per annum is N2,483,242, and therefore, receives N248,424 as recess allowance.
On his part, the deputy senate president earns N2,309,166, and his recess allowance is N230,916.