2020 Budget: PDP Attacks Buhari, Says It Will Further Impoverished, Mortgage Nigeria’s Future

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party PDP has berated the President Buhari over the presentation of 10.7tn to the National Assembly, describing it as ‘hazy’.

The party’s Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan revealed that the budget will further impoverished Nigerians and mortgaged the future of Nigeria.

He made this known in a statement on Tuesday.

Kola said “the PDP laments that the N10.7 trillion 2020 budget presented by President Buhari to the National Assembly will further impoverish Nigerians and mortgage the future of the nation.”

The party added that the core of budget remained hazy, with streaks of paddling.

The statement in reads in part ” the core of the budget hazy, showing streaks of padding, fraudulent duplication, replete with false performance indices, deceptive projections and inexplicable expenditure assertions which create openings for continued looting of our national patrimony by leaders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and persons close to the Presidency.”

“It is inexcusable that despite the huge natural resources at President Buhari’s reach, he articulated an N10.7 trillion budget that is completely lacking in concrete wealth creation strategy but relies on further squeezing of Nigerians through excruciating taxes, levies and agonizing tolls.

“The party described as unacceptable that the budget is skewed to serve the interest of the opulent, as projects that have a direct bearing on the wellbeing of the masses were not substantially accommodated in the overall expenditure profile,” the statement further reads.

The party also alleged that the budget was to serve the interest of the few opulent.

“The party described as unacceptable that the budget is skewed to serve the interest of the opulent, as projects that have direct bearing on the wellbeing of the masses were not substantially accommodated in the overall expenditure profile.

“But relies on further squeezing of Nigerians through excruciating taxes, levies and agonizing tolls,” the party said.

The opposition party however, noted that such could not have happened under the Atiku’s economic recovery plan.

The party said “such cannot happen under the Atiku economic recovery blueprint for which Nigerians voted massively the PDP in the 2019 Presidential election.”

The party also criticized the Buhari’s presidency for not being transparent.

“The party also criticized the Buhari administration for not being transparent in the mammoth allocations for alleged vague projects, particularly the ministries of works and housing as well as transportation, where allegations of diversion of public funds were endemic in the last budget,” the party said.

The party lamented that president Buhari was not able to give account of his handling of the 2019 budget.

The party said “furthermore, the PDP notes, as unacceptable that President Buhari, in his budget speech, could not give account of his handling of the 2019 budget and had to resort to lame excuses and unsupported figures, particularly on the various unimplemented subheads in critical sectors of the economy.”