Budget padding saga: Abaribe speaks on receiving N266 million as a ranking senator

Senator Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe of Abia South has stated that, contrary to claims that some ranking senators earned N500 million from the 2024 budget, he received only N266 million.

Senator Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe announced in plenary on Tuesday that several senior senators had gotten N500 million each from the 2024 budget.

The discovery followed an ongoing dispute over Senator Abdul Ningi’s allegation of budget padding in an interview with BBC Hausa.

Ningi accused the Senate of padding the 2024 budget, claiming that the National Assembly added an additional N3.7 trillion to the baseline budget.

Senator Abaribe responded to the development in an interview with ARISE TV, saying Ningi knew it was a mistake but couldn’t prove it because he wasn’t a new member of the Senate.

Abaribe stated that, despite being a ranking senator, he had yet to receive the N500 million claimed 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.”