Fresh trouble as Senate, Reps accused of padding 2025 budget worth N6.9trn

The National Assembly has again been accused of budget padding. Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, made the allegation in a television interview on Monday, August 4, as reported by Legit.

He lamented the state of poverty in the country.

Falana, while speaking on poverty in the country, alleged that despite the huge salaries and allowances of the senators and members of the House of Representatives, the federal lawmakers still padded the 2025 budget with N6.9 trillion.

Falana explains how to poverty in Nigeria

He stressed that the federal government should budget trillions of naira to fight social interventions such as the conditional cash transfer and several others. He said the president should appeal to the governors to wet the ground but compel them to legalise social interventions.

The legal icon then alleged that the national assembly was part of the problem, saying that the federal lawmakers collect huge salaries and allowances, but still inserted about 11,000 items, worth N6.9 trillion, into the 2025 budget.

Falana’s statement reads in part:

“The 469 members of the national assembly, apart from their salaries, humongous salaries of 21 million to a senator per month, 15 million to a house of reps member per month, they also inserted into the 2025 budget 11,000 items valued at 6.9 trillion naira.”

Why Senator Ningi raised budget padding allegations

This is not the first time that the 10th National Assembly has been accused of budget padding. In 2024, the Senate was engrossed in the allegation, with some members of the Red Chamber saying they did not know how they were getting money into their accounts.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator from Bauchi Central, Abdul Ahmed Ningi, had alleged that the Tinubu administration implemented a 2024 budget that was higher than what was passed by the national assembly.

Ningi, in an interview with the BBC Hausa, stated that the Senate debated and passed the N25tn budget but wondered why Tinubu was implementing N28.7tn. He was subsequently suspended over failure to substantiate his allegation with evidence after a long debate by the Senate. However, the Senator was later recalled without the expiration of his suspension.