- Warns More “Debt Will Be The Death of Economy…Bonds Will Put People in Bondage”
- APC Restates Attack On Atiku: ” Face Your Party, PDP…The Era When National Assets Were A Bazaar for Cronies and Friends Over”
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has said the reduction of 2020 budget by 0.6% by the Federal Government is not enough as it only represents an infinitesimal change in the budget figures.
The federal government during the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday reviewed the budget in the light of the current realities, reducing the budget by N71bn, while also adjusting other parameters.
But Atiku on Thursday, said the response of the Nigeria government to global economic meltdown due to coronavirus pandemic and oil price crash only shows that “we have lost touch with the current realities.”
“Nigeria cannot make up for the loss of expected revenue by taking out more loans and issuing out more bonds.
“Debt will be the death of our economy and bonds will put our people in bondage”, Aiku said.
“The best way out of this economic quagmire is to reduce our expenditure. And a 0.6% reduction is no reduction. It is only window dressing.
“It is to my consternation that despite the crash in the price of oil, and the inability of Nigeria to expand our revenue base through the non oil sector, the Federal Government of Nigeria has only seen fit to slash our budget by a mere 0.6%, from ₦10.594 trillion to ₦ 10.523 trillion. This represents a reduction of only ₦71 billion”, Atiku noted.
“My counsel to the Federal Government of Nigeria is this: put Nigerians first and cut your coat, not according to your size, but according to your cloth.
“Realistically slash the budget. Every pork barrel has to go. The billions budgeted for the travels and feeding of the President and Vice President has to be reduced.
“The ₦27 billion budget for the renovation of the National Assembly has to go.
“The massive budgets to run both the Presidency and the Legislature has to be downsized.
“The budget for purchasing luxury cars for the President, his vice, and other political office holders must be jettisoned. Leave the salaries of civil servants alone, but reduce the salaries of political appointees. Sell 8 or 9 of the jets in the Presidential Air Fleet.”
However, the APC had earlier urged the former Vice President to concentrate on his party, PDP, saying the era of waste and bazaar for cronies was over in Nigeria with the emergence of an APC government headed by President Buhari.
Lanre Issa-Onilu, APC’s national publicity secretary said: “The era when national assets were a bazaar for cronies and friends; an era when funds were approved and released for projects that were never executed; an era of waste and impunity; an era of voodoo economy; an era when corruption was a state policy.”
He added: “Nigerians now enjoy a new dispensation which has ensured massive infrastructural development covering the rail, road, agriculture, aviation, ports, education and health sectors.
“The resolute and pro-people intervention by the President Muhammadu Buhari government has ensured the plugging of revenue leakages, oil sector reforms, anti-corruption policies, economic diversification, rapid infrastructure development, intensification of fight against violent extremism among others…”
