Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Y. Suleiman has declared that budget padding is legal as it is meant to ensure fairness and equity to all. The Speaker made the declaration on Tuesday while presenting the approved 2020 appropriation bill to the Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir for assent after the Assembly had debated and approved it for implementation. Abubakar Sulaiman while making the presentation 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”. He, however, said that the size of the budget remains the same as presented by the Governor stressing that the capital and recurrent expenditures remain the same in spite of the adjustments made by the Assembly. The Speaker then 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.

Source: Nigerian Tribune December 24, 2019 12:11 UTC