Dirisu Yakubu – Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said on Tuesday the N10.7 trillion 2020 budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly would further impoverish Nigerians and mortgage the future of the nation and its citizens.

Ologbodiyan

The party also urged the legislature to redirect the fiscal proposal to serve the interest of the vast majority of Nigerians.

A statement issued by the party’s spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan described the appropriation bill as “hazy, showing streaks of padding, fraudulent duplication, replete with false performance indices, deceptive projections and inexplicable expenditure assertions which create openings for continued looting of our national patrimony by leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and persons close to the Presidency.”

The statement read: “The PDP insists that it is inexcusable that despite the huge natural resources at President Buhari’s reach, he articulated a N10.7 trillion budget that is completely lacking in concrete wealth creation strategy but relies on further squeezing of Nigerians through excruciating taxes, levies, and agonizing tolls.

• 2020 Budget: PDP challenges Buhari to make Presidency allocation public

The party described as unacceptable that the budget is skewed to serve the interest of the opulent, as projects that have a direct bearing on the wellbeing of the masses were not substantially accommodated in the overall expenditure profile.

The party also criticized the Buhari-led administration for “not being transparent in the mammoth allocations for alleged vague projects, particularly the Ministries of Works and Housing as well as transportation, where allegations of diversion of public funds were endemic in the last budget.

The PDP added: “Standing with millions of Nigerian youths and women, our party rejects the paltry budgets of N48 billion for Education and N46 billion for Health and urges the National Assembly to review the allocations in the interest of Nigerians.

“Furthermore, the PDP notes, as unacceptable that President Buhari, in his budget speech, could not give an account of his handling of the 2019 budget and had to resort to lame excuses and unsupported figures, particularly on the various unimplemented subheads in critical sectors of the economy.

“Moreover, Mr. President failed to explain why his administration has remained hugely corrupt and how his Presidency depleted our foreign reserves to an all-time low of $41,852 billion accumulated huge foreign and domestic debts and kept the naira at its knees at about N360 to $1 under his watch.”

The party also challenged the Presidency to make public the details of its allocation for Nigerians to “see the billion being spent to finance the opulent lifestyle of the Buhari Presidency, despite Mr. President’s claims of prudence and sacrifice.”

Vanguard