How House, Senate committees, others injected N4 billion into 2016 budget

Chairman, House committee on Appropriation, Hon. Abdulmumin Jubrin, and other members of the committee in both chambers, are in a quandary now. The N4 billion they tucked into the budget has been uncovered.

The NASS have been threatening to shut down the government if President Muhammadu Buhari fails to sign the 2016 budget in a hurry.

But the president was said to have been briefed by his loyalists while he was away in China on how Jubrin and his counterparts portioned out N1.5 billion for themselves, and N200 million for other committee members for constituency projects.

House Speaker Yakubu Dogara was also said to have been cut a N3 billion slice for his constituency in spite of his refusal to be part of the padding coordinated by Jubrin.

The development has since split the NASS into two now. A section supports Buhari while the other remains confrontational to his administration.

As fear of sanction gripped Jubrin and others involved in the constituency project budget scam, Dogara and key members of the House were reported to have met the presidency to resolve the matter.

Presidency sources said the meeting between the Speaker and the executive took place Wednesday night. In attendance were the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the Ministers of Finance as well as Budget and National Planning, Kemi Adeosun and Senator Udoma Udoh Udoma and other key staff of the budget office.

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Earlier, the presidency raised concerns over the removal of the Calabar-Lagos railway project vote, and others like the HIV/AID campaign budget.

The lawmakers, however, said the railway project was not included in the budget, criticising the executive for creating unnecessary uproar.

But Dogara-led meeting has struck an agreement with the executives, and the railway projects and others the NASS tampered with will be accommodated and financed by the N4 billion the lawmakers inserted. Dogara’s constituency vote, N3 billion, will also be appropriated for other votes the NASS removed or reduced.