There Would Be Nothing Like Padding of 2017 Budget-Senator Na'Allah

Senator Bala Na'Allah, the Deputy Leader of the Senate has on Tuesday given an assurance that any attempt to pad the 2017 Budget would be resisted.

He said the National Assembly would make efforts to prevent any padding in the budget.

Senator Na’Allah said this when the Rector and officials of the Nigerian Aviation College of Technology, appeared before the Senate Committee on Aviation to defend the agency’s 2017 budget.

In 2016, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Hon. Abdulmumunin Jibrin accused the leadership of the House of padding the budget.

Na’Allah said anything not captured in the original 2017 budget document submitted to the National Assembly should be resubmitted in the supplementary budget of the Federal Government.

The Senator said, “We will not add anything that was not added in the original budget. If you want to increase the budgetary allocation, you have to send a supplementary budget. If we do that, you will accuse us of budget padding. We will not allow it.

“We want to ensure that public money is spent judiciously. We want to be sure that whatever we are approving for anything is what will buy the same thing. We have looked at your budget. We will do everything possible to give you what you want.