Budget padding allegations: “I only received N266 million as a ranking senator” – Abaribe reveals

Senator representing Abia South, Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe, has said contrary to the claim that some ranking senators received N500 million from the 2024 budget, he had only received N266 million.

Senator Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe, during plenary on Tuesday, said that some senior senators had received N500 million each from the 2024 budget.

The revelation came on the heels of an ongoing controversy over an allegation of budget padding made by Senator Abdul Ningi in an interview with BBC Hausa.

Ningi had accused the Senate of padding the 2024 budget, saying the National Assembly added an extra N3.7 trillion to the initial budget.

Reacting to the development, during a chat with ARISE TV, Senator Abaribe said Ningi knew it was a mistake, claiming that he could not prove it because he was not a new member of the Senate.

Abaribe added that despite being a ranking senator, he had yet to receive the N500 million alleged by Jarigbe.

He said, “Senator Ningi knew it was going to be a mistake. He knew. He’s a member of the Senate. He can’t say he didn’t know. He’s an old Senator. He has been in the Senate before. He knew that this wasn’t correct.

“I never got 500 million. I think Jarigbe tried to clarify his statement. He came back subsequently to say, ‘No, Ningi told me I was given’, because he didn’t get. He’s also a ranking Senator.

“So, I think that at the end of the day, what you see really is that…well, I’m an APGA Senator–the only APGA Senator in the Senate. Maybe being a minority of the minority, they didn’t consider me worthy of being given. Nobody told me about that money.

“I wanted to say that, without equivocation, that both Jarigbe and the Senate leader tried to clarify this issue. Number one: nobody was given 500 million. Even a few of my colleagues called me to say, ‘Ahh, you get 500 million. We dey beg you for money, but you no wan give us one naira out of it.’

“Can you imagine? So, of course, I got 266 million for what’s called the Zonal Intervention Fund, which Nigerians call “constituency project” funds. And this thing takes a budget circle which is twelve months.

“So if at the end of twelve months, you don’t see what’s in the budget for your constituency, then you hold your representatives, whether in the Reps or Senate, culpable.”