Bauchi State Assembly Speaker declares Budget padding legal

From: Ruth Yarnap,  Bauchi

 Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Hon. Abubakar Suleiman has said that budget padding is legal as it is meant to ensure fairness and equity to all.

The Speaker revealed this while presenting the approved 2020 appropriation bill to Bauchi state   Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir for assent after the Assembly had debated and approved it for implementation in the state .

The Speaker said that, “in the process of working on the proposal presented by the Governor on the 10th of this month, we moved some amounts to some other sectors, this is what some refer to as padding, anyway, padding is legal”.

According to him, the size of the budget remains the same as presented by the Governor saying  that the capital and recurrent expenditures remains the same in spite of the adjustments made by the Assembly.

Abubakar  Suleiman assured the Governor that the Assembly will continue to support the Executive in the implementation of the budget and other programs aimed at developing the state so that it can compete with others in the country.