EXPOSED: 2025 Budget: How Tinubu Offered N1billion Per Lawmakers To ‘Saved’ Him From Planned Showdown
In a move to ease “tensions” with lawmakers, President Bola Tinubu reportedly increased the constituency project allowance for members of the House of Representatives to N1billion each before he made the budget presentation.
The development came ahead of the president’s presentation of the whopping N47.9trillion budget estimate for 2025 to the National Assembly on December 18, 2024.
Naija News House earlier reported that the Nigerian Senate on Thursday passed the 2025 Appropriation Bill of N49.7trillion for its second reading.
It would be recalled that President Tinubu presented the budget before the joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday.
The budget for 2025 which has a total estimate of N49.5 trillion was tagged “The Restoration Budget: Securing Peace, Rebuilding Prosperity.”
According to Daily Nigerian, the lawmakers had initially planned to protest the tax reform bills during the budget presentation. However, after an emergency meeting with the House leadership, they agreed to shelve their plans.
The increased constituency allowance will be included in the 2025 budget under the guise of constituency projects.
However, experts have raised concerns that this move may be a strategic maneuver, as the projects are likely to be awarded to companies handpicked by the lawmakers.
“Plans have been concluded to heckle “no to tax bills” during President Tinubu’s budget presentation speech, but the lawmakers were quickly invited to a meeting with the House leadership at 9:30am on Wednesday,” a top source familiar with the detail of the proceedings of the meeting revealed.
“During the meeting, they appealed to members to respect the sanctity of the hallowed chambers and the existing cordial relationship with the Executive, to shelve their plans to disrupt President Tinubu’s speech.
“They therefore announced that the president had graciously increased the constituency allowance to N1billion per member.”
Although the money will be padded in the 2025 budget in the name of constituency projects, legislative experts say it was a mere red-herring as the projects would be awarded to companies selected by the lawmakers.
Although it noted that it could not independently verify what the senators got, its sources believed that it would be in the neighbourhood of N2billion to N4billion naira per senator.
In the 2024 budget, the lawmakers got from N200million to N500million, depending on the member’s closeness to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abba Tajudeen or the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Abubakar Bichi.
In July, each senator and member of the House of Reps got N500million and N200million largesse respectively after approving the president’s request to jack up the 2024 Appropriation Act by N6.2trillion.
The July perks, according to legislative insiders, were “padded” in the parastatals under the ministries of Agriculture and Water Resources.
Efforts to speak with the Spokesperson for the House of Representatives, Akin Rotimi were unsuccessful as he did not take his calls.
