“Senator Abaribe Explains Distribution of Funds Among Senators in 2024 Budget”

Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, representing Abia South Senatorial District, has clarified how the Zonal Intervention Project funds were distributed among senators, following recent revelations.

Earlier, Senator Agom Jarigbe from Cross River North disclosed on Tuesday that “ranking” senators received N500 million, while he did not receive anything. This disclosure came amidst discussions on budget padding allegations by Senator Abdul Ningi from Bauchi Central.

Explaining the situation on Arise Television, Senator Abaribe refuted claims of receiving N500 million. He clarified that he received N266 million from the funds allocated to lawmakers across the six geopolitical zones.

Abaribe highlighted that the distribution of funds is not uniform across all zones due to the varying number of states. For instance, the Northwest zone with seven states would naturally receive less per senator compared to his Southeast zone with five states.

He elaborated, “Each of the six zones in the country receives N10 billion for intervention. If you are from the Northwest zone with seven states, the senator will get less than me from the five-state zone.”

Breaking down the allocation further, Abaribe explained that Abia State, his constituency, received N2 billion, with the Senate receiving 40% and the House of Representatives getting 60%.

He clarified, “I received about N266 million as zonal intervention. In comparison, someone from the Northwest with seven states would get less, around a hundred million and something. So it’s not accurate to say every constituency receives an equal amount.”