The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu has said that there is no disparity in the 2024 budget.
The minister said this while addressing journalists in Abuja on Thursday.
A lawmaker, Senator Abdul Ningi, representing Bauchi Central Senatorial District in the upper legislative chamber, had said that the 2024 budget was padded by N3 trillion, adding that there were two versions of the budget.
Ningi was reported to have made the claim in a BBC Hausa Service interview during the weekend.
Contrary to Ningi’s claim, the minister said that President Bola Tinubu submitted submitted a budget of 25.2trn whereas, the National Assembly upgraded the budget to N28.7trn.
“Constitution necessitates that, the president submit budget proposal to the National Assembly. The national assembly had the last word in terms of appropriation. There can be no appropriation without addition, subtraction or agreement to the one presented. The national assembly deemed it fit to increase the budget from N25.5 trillion presented by the president to 28.7trn which is what the president is working with”, he said.
