The Senator representing Abia South in the upper chamber of the National Assembly, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, has revealed how funds were allocated to lawmakers for the Zonal Intervention Project included in the 2024 budget.
According to him, he got only N266 million from the money allocated to lawmakers in the six geo-political zones, and not a bulk sum of N500 million as alleged by the senator representing Cross River North, Agom Jarigbe on Tuesday during plenary.
The Abia South lawmaker explained further that the amount gotten by each lawmaker depends on the number of states in his or her zone.
Abaribe said lawmakers from some zones, like the Northwest, which has seven states, would expect to get less than what he got, as his Southeast zone has only five states.
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.”