Things getting bad under your watch, Northern Senators Chair knocks Tinubu
ABUJA- FORMER Deputy Senate Leader and chairman of the Northern Senators Forum (NSF), Senator Abdul Ningi, PDP Bauchi Central has taken a swipe at President Bola Tinubu, saying that things were getting worse under his leadership, just as he said that the President didn’t even understand this country and he didn’t understand the difficulties of ruling a country like Nigeria, especially the northern part of the country.
Senator Ningi stated this in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service yesterday where he said that the Federal government has not performed to expectations, adding that things were getting worse compared to when President Tinubu took over the leadership of the country in May, 2023.
The Senator who raised the alarm of N3 trillion Budget Padding in the Presidency, said, “For example, it was said that there was a budget of N28 trillion but what was passed was N25 trillion. So there is N3 trillion on top. Where are they, where is it going? So, we need to know this. There are a lot of things. We are coming up with a report and we will show the president himself and ask him if he is aware or not.”
On Tinubu and the government, Senator Ningi said, “First of all, I want you to know that I am a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a representative of the people. Based on my opinion, the government hasn’t performed to our expectations. Things are getting worse compared to when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took the leadership of the country. People are going through a lot of difficulties. We live in villages. We are going there to interact with them and they are lamenting seriously. They have nowhere to go, so they have no one to express their grievances to than us.
” I think Bola Ahmed Tinubu didn’t even understand this country and he didn’t understand the difficulties of ruling a country like Nigeria. Probably, he has his thinking of what governance is, but I don’t blame him so much because when he was campaigning for the seat, there was no agreement or promise between him and the people. People were just blinded and voted for him because he supported former president Muhammadu Buhari when he was contesting. Some even voted for him because he is a Muslim, as such he needed their vote on whether he can or cannot do the right thing for the country.
“But the most painful thing is that Northerners stood for him and did all they could to bring him to power, but unfortunately, there was no agreement between them and the president on what should be done to the North and the Northerners. Especially taking into consideration the importance and significant projects that North has been yearning and aspiring to get for a long. For example, the Ajaokuta project, the Mambila power project, the dredging of river Niger and other notable projects.
“What mostly disturbs my sleep is that we had a budget in 2013 and 2014 in which we earmarked billions of Naira but it was neglected by President Goodluck Jonathan, when President Buhari came, we thought it was one of the projects he would pay attention to, but unfortunately, it wasn’t possible for over eight years. Even road construction like Kano-Abuja is not yet completed, as if it was cursed by someone, despite the road being the soul of our travelers in the North.
“Indeed, we don’t attack the government as the opposition is supposed to do. But this is a result of the situation and the government we have. These so-called leaders they forced on us, were not voted by us. They brought religious issues, and ethnic and tribal issues into the process, they used propaganda saying that no Hausa/Fulani would be trusted to lead the opposition because there would be no peace. If you look at it from this scenario, the majority of those in opposition are from the Northeast and the Northwest, but we were not allowed to be the leaders of the opposition in the Senate. This is one of the reasons why we said we would go back and look at what is happening under the umbrella of the Northern Senators Forum which is under my leadership. But you can’t do everything here, because it involves members of the ruling and opposition parties. It is very difficult to challenge the ruling party under that umbrella once you want the unity of the North.”
On planned transfer of some departments of federal agencies to Lagos, Senator Ningi said, ” I will speak not as a member of opposition, but as a northerner. As a northerner, I know that this is going to happen. We heard about it and we saw several examples in the past that tell us that all this is possible. But as I speak, our people, especially the leaders are yet to take any action to find the solution. That is why I am not even surprised.
“These things that are happening are of two categories. Some affect the North only, and some affect the entire country. What we are doing now as leaders of the Forum of Northerners, we are trying to address the problem or reduce its strength without allowing politics to come in. “
Ningi who disclosed that the Northern Senators have engaged a consultant to review the 2024 budget, said, “This is true, for the past three months, we have engaged consultants to review the budget for us. We have some experts that are working on it line by line. We have seen the huge damage that was done not only to the north but the entire country in that budget. We are supposed to sit with the Senate President to inform him about what we have observed.
“We want to show him what we have seen in the budget that is not acceptable, we will not accept them and we don’t want the country to continue spending money on those things. Apart from what the National Assembly did on the floor, there was another budget that was done underground which we didn’t know.
“The new things we have discovered in the budget were not known to us. We haven’t seen them in the budget that was debated and considered on the floor of the National Assembly.
“For example, it was said that there was a budget of N28 trillion but what was passed was N25 trillion. So there is N3 trillion on top. Where are they, where is it going? So, we need to know this. There are a lot of things. We are coming up with a report and we will show the president himself and ask him if he is aware or not.
“This is what we intended to do. We are to meet the president. We will talk to him about the Mambila power project, Ajaokuta and the River Niger dredging. We will talk to him about the Niger Republic. Recently, they said they will construct a dam, this is not good for us.
“The action taken by ECOWAS has affected the relationship between Nigeria and Niger. There was an agreement that they would not construct a dam so that the Kainji Dam would be intact and we will give them electricity in return.
“Over one billion US dollars was spent on Mambila, BBC has reported. Where is that money? Who collected the money? We need to know and see what can be done. This Mambila is like the future of the North. Every part of the country has its holds as a symbol that will save them in the future.
“One of our weaknesses in the north is that we don’t love ourselves and our region so much that we don’t care about the future. We are just living anyhow. We just love the region in our mouths not at heart and I am seriously worried about that.”
On security challenges in the North, he said, “These security challenges are happening in the North. There is nowhere in the South where someone will be abducted and spend seven days in custody of the abductors. Look at Katsina, Zamfara, and Benue. I am even afraid that one day we will wake up and see that states like Zamfara are been taken away from the country. It is possible going by what is happening.”
In a swift reaction to the issue of budget padding as raised by Ningi, Chairman Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, APC, Ekiti South said, “there is no budget padding as far as the Senate and the National Assembly are concerned. The National budget is a public document, which expressly stated the expected revenue and the expenditure of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Senate under the leadership of Senator Godswill Akpabio is not aware of any varied execution of the 2024 appropriation mandate, as approved.
“The budget presentation and approval processes were made in the public glare, while the Presidential ascent was also in a public ceremony. Any infractions would have been brought before the Senate, if any. The general public should be at rest that there is no budget padding anywhere and we are confident that the 2024 appropriation law shall be strictly executed, under strict legislative oversight.”
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