The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party during the 2023 general election, Mr Peter Obi on Monday said it is still very early in the day for the details of the 2024 budget of the Federal Government to be revisited, to ensure that scarce resources are appropriated to critical areas like security, and fighting poverty among others.
Obi is advising the Executive and Legislative arms of government to immediately commence the review of the 2024 budget for the right things to be done.
The former Anambra Governor’s opinion is coming on the heels of the recent controversies trailing the budget.
Recall that the 2024 national budget has been a subject of controversy since it was presented by President Bola Tinubu to the National Assembly in a joint session on November 29, 2023, with members who were supposed to pass it, claiming it was not made available to them.
There was the added controversy that the Presidency wanted the budget passed soon after its presentation, which resulted in the National Assembly, hurriedly, without adequate information and in the absence of full consideration, passing the budget on December 30, 2023, after which the President unprecedentedly signed it into law on January 1, 2024.
However, when the former Senate Deputy Leader and Chairman, Northern Senators Forum, NSF, Senator Abdul Ningi, PDP, Bauchi Central raised allegations over the padding of the budget to the tune of N3.7 trillion, the Senate suspended him for three months.
Writing on his X handle on Monday, Obi said “Having followed the controversies trailing the 2024 budget, and having read some of the budgetary provisions and allocations of resources, I wish to respectfully appeal for a total review of the entire budget.
“The Executive and Legislative arms should initiate an immediate review of the budget as it is still in the early days of implementation to enable them do urgent virement of resources to critical areas.
“The nation’s resources should adequately be appropriated to critical areas like security, fighting poverty and solving the challenges of hunger and food insecurity, and power supply, especially considering the difficult times that we are in.
“In the past 1 year, about 7000 Nigerians have been kidnapped, with about 700 kidnapped in the last 3 weeks, notwithstanding the violent crimes and killings that occur in every part of the nation, which must have included us in one of the world’s riskiest countries to live in.
“A report by the globally respected publication, Financial Times, on March 12, 2024, described Nigeria’s kidnapping racket as a sign of a failed state. With all of these happening in our nation, how then can we attract foreign investors, and retain the confidence of local investors?
“We have become one of the hungriest nations in the world and one of the most difficult nations in the world to live in, with food prices constantly going out of the reach of most Nigerians.
“Power supply is abysmally poor and Nigerians are now mostly in total darkness, as over 60% are without power supply.
“Even those in perceived privileged areas now go for days without power supply.
“A 2022 Energy Progress Report designated Nigeria as the country with the largest number of people lacking access to electricity with 92 million of its over 200 million population living without electricity.
“About 80 percent of our primary healthcare centers are not functional. The cost of medical treatments and medicines has gone beyond the reach of most Nigerians.
“We now hold the enviable position of having the highest number of out-of-school children, with about 20 million out-of-school children.
“We need to take our children off the streets and give them access to basic education.
“I, therefore, urge our executive and legislative arms to consider the many challenges facing our nation and re-allocate resources to these very critical areas.
“This is the time for complete sacrifice. A New Nigeria is still very POssible.”
