Reactions: Throw Away Tinubu’s 2024 Budget, PDP Tells National Assembly

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News, News Across Nigeria Wednesday, November 29th, 2023

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Peoples Democratic Party says the N27.5 trillion budget for the 2024 fiscal year as proposed by President Bola Tinubu to the National Assembly is “deceitful, strangulating, and hopeless”.

The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, on Wednesday stated that if the budget is allowed to pass, it will further put Nigeria into more economic mess.

The opposition party tasked the National Assembly, pursuant to its constitutional duty under Sections 80, 81, and 82 of the 1999 Constitution, to reject the 2024 budget as presented.

“The PDP calls on the National Assembly pursuant to its Constitutional duty under Section 80, 81 and 82 of the 1999 Constitution to reject the 2024 budget as presented and use its legislative powers to disassemble the budget and make provisions that are critical and pivotal to the growth of the economy and the welfare of Nigerians,” the party said.

Ologunagba stated that the budget does not contain concrete methods to revive the economy, create jobs and look into the dead manufacturing and productive sectors among others things.

The statement read in part, “The budget framework with respect to Recurrent Expenditure Vote of N9.9 trillion, Capital Expenditure Vote of N8.7 trillion and N8.25 trillion for debt services is unsustainable and unrealiaable given the stated outstanding debt and proposed borrowing which is targeted mainly to finance consumption, luxury appetite and debt servicing.

“The lack of concrete and verifiable action plans to revive the manufacturing, energy, agricultural, and education sectors which are the main drivers of any economy is a pointer that the Tinubu-led APC government is bereft of ideas and completely disconnected from the reality of life being faced by Nigerians.

“By adopting a defeatist N750 per US Dollar exchange rate, President Tinubu has further plunged our economy into the abyss, weakened our productive sector, wrecked the purchasing power of Nigerians and the capacity of the youths to be creative, recognizing that it will be almost impossible for Small and Medium Enterprises as well as Startups to access capital under such a suffocating budget.

“Every responsible leadership strives to work and defend its national currency. Unfortunately, the Tinubu-led government has surrendered our nation’s currency and pride to the whims and caprices of the so-called market forces.

“The PDP insists that with a transparent, honest, and innovative management of resources and economic potentials of the nation; without inordinate pursuit of luxury consumption by a few individuals in leadership positions, as being witnessed under the APC, the economy will witness a rapid turn-around and the Naira strengthened to its value of below N200 per US Dollar bequeathed by the PDP to the APC in 2015

“This 2024 budget as presented by President Tinubu therefore represents hopelessness for Nigerians. It is pathetic that the President whose main duty is to provide for the security and welfare of Nigerians as provided for in Section 14 (2) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) could present a budget that is not geared towards the attainment of that Constitutional duty imposed on him.”