Budget: Group protest to NASS, accuse Buhari of starving Nigerians

Jonas Ike, Abuja

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A group of young men and women known as Rebirth Nigeria has staged a peaceful protest to the National Assembly calling for an overhaul of the nation’s budgeting process as the previous budgets since the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 had dubbed budgets of starvation of the citizenry.

The group has therefore called on the Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki, Speaker House of Representatives Hon Yakubu Dogara and Clerk to the National Assembly Barr.Mohammed Ataba Sani Omolori to ensure that the 2019 budget is not passed until the Presidency overhaul the nation’s budgeting process.

Leader of the group Mr. Tope Kolade Fasua who a is also the presidential candidate of ANRP one of the 71 political parties contesting the 2019 general elections alongside President Buhari’s party APC said that the nation’s budget since Buhari emerged as president had been grossly inadequate to cater for the citizenry.

He said that Buhari’s 2018 budget compared with previous budgets of Nigeria and other nations had been budget of starvation and insisted that the next year’s budget must be raised up #15 trillon for it to be able to address numerous national challenges.

He said: ” We are leading this protest to register our disdain with the nation’s budgeting process. Compared with other nation’s budgets, Nigeria’s budget is the least in terms of size and funding. Last year’s budget was just #8.6 trillion. This was grossly inadequate.

We will continue this protest until something is done about the budgeting process in Nigeria. We had written to the Senate President three times, we have also written to the Speaker House of Reps thrice and some other officials of the legislature. No response has been recieved from them.We will continue to protest until something is done about this.”

A comparison of national budget document obtained from him by our reporter shows that Nigeria is the least in budget to GDP ratio which stood at 6% trailing being many great nations such as USA with 38%, China 32% Japan 38%, Germany 43% United Kingdom 41%, India 28%, Italy 49% and Canada 41%.

The presidential hopeful had pointed out that most African nations including Tanzania, South Africa and Namibia are budgeting as high as #15 trillion on annual basis wondering why Nigeria that is more endowed is budgeting only #8.6 trillion in the last budget.

He further challenged President Buhari to reinvigorate and re-engineer the economic team of the present administration as Nigerians had been under starvation under the 2018 budget due to poor implementation of the yearly ritual which he pegged at an average of 30%.

He regretted that top government officials notably Ministers, Permanent Secretary and even the President himself are always jetting out of the country, asking though rethorically; “how then can the budget be impactful?.”