2018 BUDGET: Buhari exhibited unpardonable ignorance —PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of exhibiting “unpardonable ignorance” on Wednesday when he signed 2018 budget into law.

The party also said that Buhari’s submission that the 2018 budget, signed by him, will be near un-implementable, is a clear admission that he “lacks the capacity and competence” to run a development-oriented economy as desired by Nigerians.

The PDP said this in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Wednesday.

The statement read, “Nigerians and the business community worldwide were stunned when our dear President, in his speech, while signing the budget, exhibited unpardonable ignorance of the dynamics of international best practices in macroeconomics management, an indication that our economy is in very bad hands.

“President Buhari, in picking holes on items that would directly impact on economic productivity, infrastructural advancement, rural development as well as those that would provide urgent palliatives to the plights of Nigerians, shows his aversion to developmental economy as well as insensitivity to the welfare of our citizens.

“In fact, President Buhari, in his comments on the budget has further de-marketed our economy before international investors, thereby worsening our woes as a nation.

“How on earth can a President, if indeed he loves the people, quarrel over budgetary items seeking to cushion the biting effect of the economic recession, particularly for the poor, who are the direct victims of the harsh policies of his incompetent administration?

READ ALSO: NASS TO BUHARI: We’re only fighting for ‘the common man’, even our N139.5bn budget is a reduction

“Furthermore, President Buhari’s resort to blaming the National Assembly for his inability to exert himself as a leader and ensure smooth implementation of the budget, further shows that he cares little about the actual needs of the people, having holed in himself in the comfort, security and pleasures of the Presidential villa.”

While the opposition party urged the National Assembly to ensure strict implementation of the 2018 budget, it equally called on all Nigerians to save “our dear nation from this official lethargy by rallying on the platform of the repositioned PDP and voting out President Buhari and his anti-people All Progressives Congress (APC), come 2019.”

 

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