A day after President Bola Tinubu signed into law the N2.17trn supplementary budget, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has accused the Federal Government of being uncaring and insensitive to the suffering Nigerians.
Tinubu had on Wednesday
assented to the Supplementary Appropriation Act in Abuja to strengthen
Nigeria’s security architecture and address the critical infrastructure
deficit, amongst other considerations.
But taking to his X handle on
Wednesday, Obi said the President failed to consider certain emergencies and
pressing needs of the country.
The LP presidential candidate
said that going by the manner the budgetary allocations were done, Tinubu was
obviously unaware of the dire crisis in the country.
“No item of urgent social
welfare has yet featured in the supplementary budget being orchestrated by this
government. Instead, the items being made to dominate public discourse on the
budget include a mysterious Presidential Yacht, Presidential Jets, the
furnishing of already lavishly furnished presidential quarters and offices,
fleets of luxury SUVs, etc. This portrays a Government that is totally uncaring
and insensitive to the suffering of the majority, and indifferent to the mood
of the nation,” the statement read.
“Admittedly, some items in the
current budget may not have taken into consideration the needs of a new
administration, but it is expected that a supplementary budget this late in the
financial year should reflect mostly urgent items of national welfare.
“Sadly, the most pressing national needs and emergencies have not featured in the supplementary budget that was just announced by the government. For example, the United Nations and World Food Programme have recently alerted that up to 6.5 million Nigerians will go hungry next year.
“This number is largely from
among citizens in Sokoto, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, and Zamfara States. A caring
Government in order to plan for the mitigation of such pending catastrophe can
request for supplementary budget provisions to cushion those under threat.”
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