Nigeria’s President
Bola Tinubu on Thursday, March 21, 2024, told the leadership of the 10th Senate that the integrity of the National Assembly remains intact in the thick of allegations of budget padding over the last few weeks.
He said his administration will always encourage cooperation between the executive and judiciary for the advancement of the nation.
President Tinubu said this when he hosted the leadership of the Senate to a dinner on Thursday to break the Ramadan fast at the State House, Abuja.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, disclosed this in a statement released in the early hours of Friday titled ‘President Tinubu: We will not allow anyone to undermine our security; killers of soldiers in Delta State will face certain justice.’
Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central, PDP) had alleged that the Tinubu-led government is implementing a budget other than the one approved on January 1, 2024.
Ningi, who chaired the Northern Senators’ Forum and Senate Committee on Population, had contended in a BBC Hausa Service interview that a N25tn budget was debated and passed, not the N28.7tn that is currently being implemented.
He maintained that N3.7tn could not be accounted for in the 2024 budget.
However, at plenary on March 12, the Senate suspended Senator Ningi for three months over this claim.
Reacting to the allegations for the first time in public, President Tinubu said, “I know the arithmetic of the budget and the numbers that I brought to the National Assembly, and I know what numbers came back.
“I appreciate all of you for the expeditious handling of the budget. Thank you very much.
“Those who are talking about malicious embellishment in the budget; they did not understand the arithmetic and did not refer to the baseline of what I brought. But your integrity is intact.”
