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COVID-19: We must abandon 2020 budget, Atiku tells Nigerian govt
The Nigerian Government has been advised to abandon the 2020 budget, and come up with a fresh one that would take care of the current situation on ground, mostly caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar gave the advice on Tuesday in a statement through his Media Office.
He said, “In Nigeria, it’s already clear that we must abandon the 2020 budget and come up with a more realistic budget.
“Our oil benchmark is way off the mark. And we are certainly no longer in a position to budget N100 billion plus for our legislatures and almost N50bn for the Presidency (in truth, we were never in a position to do that).”
Atiku, who was the presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general elections, added that the situation in the world at the moment required African countries to unite and seek debt forgiveness following the consequence of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economies.
He also pointed that it was necessary that the allocations for National Assembly lawmakers and the Presidency be slashed instead of the Federal Government seeking to borrow loans from other countries and financial bodies.
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He said, “Why is it that the Nigerian government is always quick to want to borrow at every instance? It shows a lazy mindset and an inability to take those sacrifices necessary to get the economy into shape.
“We cannot be looking to borrow huge sums at the same time our officials are taking delivery of foreign made luxury cars. We cannot be considered a serious country when we refuse to cut down on profligacy and instead seek outside help to fund our inefficiencies.”
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