Ningi, who represents Bauchi Central at the Senate, was last Tuesday suspended for three months by the Senate for his claims that the 2024 budget was padded which the Senators said was false.
SERAP urged the senate President to urgently refer the allegations that lawmakers padded the 2024 budget by irregularly inserting the said sum to appropriate anti-corruption agencies for investigation and prosecution.
The rights group also urged Akpabio to make a public commitment to discontinue the patently unlawful constituency projects in the next budget cycle.
In a letter signed by its deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP explained that what Senator Ningi did, shows a positive act of good citizenship, and should not be penalised for making a public interest disclosure.
The group also expressed worry over what it described as opacity and lack of accountability in the spending of public funds on constituency projects since the return of democracy in 1999.
SERAP further urged the senate president to put in place transparency and accountability mechanisms to ensure that the trillions of naira budgeted for constituency projects are not embezzled, misappropriated or diverted into private pockets.
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