12th March, 2024
The Senate, the nation’s upper chamber was thrown into rowdy session on Tuesday after information emerged that ranking senators got N500 million each as palliatives for their constituency.
The lawmakers had convened to debate on Senator Abdul Ningi’s interview with BBC Hausa, in which he alleged that the 2024 budget was padded with about N3.7 trillion.
During the session, Senator Jarigbe Jarigbe disclosed that some senators were given N500 million as palliatives for their constituents while others got N200 million.
Jarigbe had said that the issue had been clarified that the missing N3.7tn, as alleged by Senator Ningi, had been clarified under the Government Owned Enterprises and first line charge.
He said, “I thought this issue should have ended when the chairman of Committee on Appropriation, explained that the N3.7tn were under GOEs and the first line charge.
“That explains everything but if we want to express our grouse, I also have mine and we are all culpable. After all, all the ranking senators got N500m each. I am a ranking senator and I didn’t get.”
On receiving the news, there was chaos on the floor of the Senate as the lawmakers vented their anger on the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.