ARE Nigerians surprised that the leadership of the House of Representatives in the bi-cameral legislative system kept quiet over the controversial allegations of 2024 BUDGET PADDING by Senator Abdul Ningi, Bauchi Central?
They are BIRDS OF A FEATHER! The 8th National Assembly was awash with the damning exposition of humongous budget padding by a ranking member and Chairman of House of Representatives Appropriation Committee who gave detailed information about how the illicit funds were shared! He was brazen to admit his own share of the bloody loot and gave detailed statements of the legislative cabal to the EFCC, POLICE ICPC etc, but till date, neither Hon. Abdulmumin Jibril Aminu nor his accomplices were invited for interrogation! They are all walking free!
Although he was suspended for ONE YEAR from all legislative duties, he sought redress at the courts, won all petitions but the entire case was swept under the carpet!

ABDUL NINGI WAS A MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF REPS. DURING THE EXPOSED 2016 BUDGET PADDING!

Now as "distinguished" Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, his patriotic/nationalistic instincts forced him to "BLOW THE WHISTLE" which has earned him a 90-day suspension from the legislative Chambers!

BELOW ARE SORDID EXPOSITIONS OF SENATOR NINGI ACCORDING TO PREMIUM TIMES: March 17, 2024

"The claim by a senator, Abdul Ningi, that over N53 billion worth of projects in the 2024 Appropriations Act are without a specific location, is true, a check by PREMIUM TIMES has revealed.
The suspended lawmaker, who represents Bauchi Central Senatorial District, recently accused the leadership of the Senate of fraudulently smuggling projects into the 2024 budget.
The lawmaker, who was suspended by the Senate on Tuesday over the claim, had disclosed that he got experts to review the budget and discovered some projects that do not have locations.
A review of the document obtained by this newspaper as well as a review of the proposed 2024 budget and the one eventually passed by the lawmakers, indicate that there is substantial merit in Mr Ningi’s claim.
According to Mr Ningi’s document, the consultants traced 36 projects that are worth N53 billion though the projects have no specific locations they are to be sited.

The 2024 Budget

On 29 November 2023, President Bola Tinubu presented the N27.5 trillion budget to the joint session of the National Assembly.
The budget has a recurrent expenditure profile of N9.92 trillion, a capital expenditure component of N8.7 trillion while N8.25 trillion was set aside for debt servicing.
Within 30 days, the lawmakers passed the budget, increasing it by N1.2 trillion and bringing the total figure to N28.7 trillion
Many observers believe that the lawmakers sacrificed diligence on the altar of speed.
It was not only the lawmakers who were in a hurry, President Tinubu also signed the bill into law within 48 hours after it was transmitted to him.
However, barely 60 days into the implementation of the budget, controversy arose.
PREMIUM TIMES reported the meeting between Mr Ningi, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and some principal officers of the Senate.

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio

During the meeting, Mr Ningi, who at the time was the leader of the Northern Senators’ Forum, alleged that about N3.7 trillion worth of projects were smuggled into the budget.
Mr Ningi also had an interview with BBC Hausa, during which he was quoted as saying, “Apparently, we discovered N3 trillion 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.” The lawmaker later claimed that he was misquoted in the interview, insisting that he never mentioned “budget padding” or Mr Akpabio. He, however, refused to be pressured to recant his claims by his colleagues during Tuesday’s plenary session. He was subsequently suspended. In the course of the saga, two main issues have occupied centre stage – budget padding and constituency projects.

Sen Abdul Ningi -Tracking the 36 projects without location

In the document Mr Ningi has, for instance, N500 million was allocated for “Energy Poverty Intervention in Selected Rural Cooperators Settlements.” The project is under the Federal College of Land Resources Owerri, Imo State.
This line item has a very vague description with an equally vague location. “Selected rural cooperators settlement” was the only description for the location of the project.
Further checks revealed that this project was not in the budget proposal submitted by President Tinubu. Aside from this project flagged by Mr Ningi, this paper also flagged several other projects placed under the same college in Imo.
For instance, N500 million was allocated for the “construction of solar street lights in selected cooperators settlement”. Like other projects, it has no specific location and it was not contained in the proposed budget submitted by the president.

In total, 14 projects worth N2.4 billion were injected into the institution’s budget. These 14 projects were not in the proposed budget by the president.
A similar vague project was domiciled in the budget of the Agricultural Council of Nigeria. The N40 million project is tagged, “supply of farm inputs and farm implements in selected communities.” No specific location was put in place for the project.
When President Tinubu presented the budget, the agency had a N2.7 billion budgetary allocation. After the lawmakers’ controversial insertions, the agency’s budget was increased to N22.9 billion. Many of the projects are to be executed in different senatorial districts. However, some have very vague descriptions. For instance, N297.6 million (N297, 555,911) was repeated four times in the agency’s budget for projects without specific locations.
There is “Solar street light installations in selected federal constituencies in the six geopolitical zones”, and there is another: “entrepreneurship/empowerment of SMEs in some six geopolitical zones in the country.”

Another agency that Mr Ningi flagged is the Nigeria Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research. He highlighted N1.5 billion worth of projects that could not be tied to any specific location. A simple search revealed that Mr Ningi only scratched the surface. Over N54.2 billion worth of projects were dumped by the lawmakers in this agency. Many of them are vague.
In the budget of the National Centre for Agriculture Mechanisation, over N36 billion was inserted in the budget of the agency by the lawmakers. When President Tinubu presented the budget in November 2023, the agency had about N1.8 billion as total estimated expenditure. However, by the time the lawmakers dumped their projects in there, the allocation increased to N38.6 billion.

Duplicating same untraceable projects in two agencies.

Mr Ningi’s claim that projects worth about N2 billion in the budget of the National Horticulture Research Institute, Ibadan, cannot be traced to any specific location is also true. Four line items at the rate of N500 million each are in the budget without any specific location.
However, the problem is not just the lack of specific locations of the projects, there appears to be intent to commit fraud. These same projects in the National Horticulture Research Institute, Ibadan were also dumped in the budget of the Nigerian Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research. It has the same amounts and the same project titles.
These projects were not in the original budget submitted by the president. They were included by the lawmakers.

Most of the projects flagged by Mr Ningi checked out following an investigation by PREMIUM TIMES. However, the lawmaker only scratched the surface, as a deeper search showed that many more projects were dumped by the lawmakers.

Budget Padding vs Constituency Projects

The emergence of the phrase “budget padding” into Nigeria’s political lexicon could be traced to 2016, when Abdulmummin Jibrin, the then chairperson of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, accused the then Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, and some principal officers of the House of padding the budget of the House with projects. Amid that scandal, Mr Jibrin was suspended by the House.
However, controversies over the insertion of projects into the budget could be traced to the beginning of this Fourth Republic.
Lawmakers have always maintained that they reserve the power to insert projects into the proposed budgets.”

PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT IN NIGERIA IS A FRAUD! THE POLITICIANS (EXCEPT FOR A SPINELESS MINORITY FEW) ARE FRAUDSTERS!
CITIZENS DO NOT NEED AN ANGEL OF THE LORD TO COMMAND THEM TO DEMAND FOR THE GRASSROOT UNICAMERAL (ONE HOUSE) COSTLESS SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT NOW!
JOIN THE MOVING CAMPAIGN TRAIN WHICH HAS GATHERED MOMENTUM ACROSS ALL POLITICAL DIVIDE NOW!

PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM FOR NIGERIA IS NOW - NOT 2031! AMEN, AMEN, AMEN.



I am, yours sincerely, THE WATCHMAN Dr. David B.A. Olufon. 08130669886, 08080243066. g-mail-dvdolufon@gmail.

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