THE Senate on Friday said the allegations of budget padding rocking the House of Representatives were more of a media hype than a reality.
The leader of the Senate, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, told journalists after observing jumaat prayer with President Buhari at the State House in Abuja that it is the duty of the National Assembly to make additions, subtraction and adjustments to the Appropriation Bill.
Ndume said war of words between the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara and the ousted chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, was a fallout between the duo.
According to him, “The issue of budget padding is more of a media hype than reality. We are not doing budget now, we only have Appropriation Act which is a law, and you know the process of implementing a law.
“I do not know where the issue of this budget padding we are talking about is coming from. If we are not to tinker with the budget as submitted by the president, then there wouldn’t have been the need to submit it to the National Assembly.
We have the constitutional duty to add, subtract and adjust. That was what was done. This is the first time we did a budget that was collectively produced in such a way that the Senate, the House of Representatives and the executive played different parts.
“This time, the president took his time to ensure that he did not only sign on the budget, but also signed on budget details that he is satisfied with. What is happening now is a fallout between individuals; it is more of personal thing between Dogara and Jibrin. That is not the way differences should be settled. We have an in-house process that is followed if we have such issues. I am personally involved in reaching out to the parties involved.”
