Senators Got N500m For Projects, Not For Personal Use — Jarigbe

The People’s Democratic Party, PDP lawmaker, representing Cross River North, Senator Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe, said the N500 million he claimed some senators received was for projects and not for their pockets.

Jarigbe disclosed this in an interview on Arise Television on Wednesday.

He said, “There has never been a time when we had an equitable distribution of resources or values to constituencies across the country. It has never happened, so what’s happening now is not novel.

“That is why I stated it unequivocally on the floor of the Senate that while Senator Ningi raised the issue of some senators having N50, N100 billion on the budget for their constituency;

“…I have it on good authority that some senators were given projects worth N500 million in their budgetary provision for their senatorial district, not that senators were given N500 million for their pockets. My mic went off while I was making my point.

“The truth is that some of them had more funding in their sentorial district, while some of us had less. So there was no need for some of us who are encumbered to go to the press to make statements that are unfounded,” he said.

Recall that the 2024 Budget has been a subject of controversy, with Senator Abdul Ningi alleging that the Senate padded the 2024 budget to the tune of N3.7 trillion.

Ningi, in an interview with BBC Hausa, claimed that the Federal Government is operating two versions of the 2024 budget and that the N28.7 trillion Budget passed and signed into law by President Tinubu was skewed against the North.

At the resumed plenary on Tuesday, the Red Chamber, under the leadership of Senate President Godswill Akpabio, suspended Senator Ningi.

Meanwhile, former governor of Benue State, Senator Gabriel Suswam, said there was no padding in the 2024 Budget signed by President Bola Tinubu.

Suswam stated this in an interview on Arise Television on Wednesday.

He said, “If the budget signed by the President was not more than initial submission, there was no padding.

“The issue is that the leadership of the National Assembly normally takes the lion’s share of constituency projects, and this agitates most members and senators,” he added.