The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has expressed his views on the alleged padding of the 2024 budget with N3 trillion.
Recall that Senator Abdul Ningi, representing Bauchi Central in the National Assembly, had alleged that the National Assembly debated and passed N25 trillion as the 2024 budget instead of the N28.7 trillion being implemented by the Federal Government.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senator, in an interview with BBC Hausa said the Northern lawmakers sought the service of a private auditor and discovered irregularities in the budget.
However, in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga faulted Ningi’s claim on the 2024 budget.
Onanuga stated that the Nigerian government allowed the National Assembly to increase the national budget by N1.2 trillion in the spirit of democracy.
Reacting to the development in an X post on Sunday, Obi called on the Presidency and the National Assembly to explain the discrepancies of budget padding to the sum of N3 trillion.
The former Governor of Anambra said the allegation is worrying because the amount involved represents over 10% of the national budget.
