A former federal lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani has shed further light on the pervasive issue of budget padding within Nigeria’s National Assembly, amidst ongoing revelations of financial misconduct.
The scandal came to the forefront following allegations made by Bauchi North senator, Abdul Ningi, who claimed that a staggering sum of approximately N3.7 trillion in the 2024 Appropriation Act lacked allocation to specific projects.
Despite the Senate’s punitive action of suspending Ningi for three months in response to those allegations, the embattled lawmaker remained steadfast in his assertion, maintaining the existence of corroborating documents to substantiate his claims.
In an effort to elucidate the concept of budget padding and expose the modus operandi employed by some members of the National Assembly, Senator Shehu Sani utilizing his official X handle lectured the public about budget padding.
He outlined that budget padding entails illicitly manipulating the budget initially proposed by the President or the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). This manipulation can take various forms, including inflating the costs of projects or clandestinely inserting new projects that were not part of the original budget submission.
For instance, Sani provided an illustrative scenario where a Minister requests funds to procure five buckets for 5k each. However, through budget padding tactics, the final budget allocation may inexplicably approve eight buckets instead of the requested five, or alternatively, allocate funds for the purchase of the originally requested five buckets but at an inflated price of 10k each. Additionally, unrelated items such as shovels and diggers might be surreptitiously added to the procurement request for buckets, further distorting the budgetary allocation process.
In his words, “Paddling budget means tampering with the budget presented by the President or the MDAs by either adding figures to the costs of projects or inserting projects that were not in the original budget. For example, a Minister can say he wants to buy 5 Buckets for his Ministry at 5k each; magically, he will see 8 Buckets approved for him or 5 Buckets approved at the rate of 10k each or he will see Shovels and diggers added to his request for Buckets.”
