Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, representing the Abia South Senatorial District, has provided insight into the allocation of funds from the Zonal Intervention Project among senators.
Recently, Senator Agom Jarigbe of Cross River North disclosed that while ranking senators received N500 million, he received nothing. Jarigbe made this revelation during a Senate session addressing allegations of budget padding raised by Senator Abdul Ningi of Bauchi Central.
Ranking senators, defined as those who have served at least four years in the Senate, were purportedly recipients of the N500 million allocation.
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Addressing the matter 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 geo-political zones.
Abaribe further explained that the allocation varied among zones, pointing out that zones with fewer states, such as the Southeast with five states, might receive more than those with more states, like the Northwest with seven.
He said, “I have been saying that all fingers are not equal and by privilege of office, certain people will get but not every Senator gets an equal amount.
“These are six zones in the country, and every zone gets its own N10 billion in intervention. Now, if you are from the Northwest zone, because you have seven states, the senator will get less than me who comes from the five-state zone.
“My state, Abia, gets N2 billion and if we break it down for both the Senate and the representatives, the Senate is getting 40% and the House gets 60%.
“I got about N266 million as zonal intervention. The person in the Northwest who has seven states, will necessarily get less, about a hundred million and something.
“So it’s not correct when we say every constituency must get an equal amount.”