Recession: Atiku Calls For Review Of 2021 Budget

Following an announcement by National Bureau of Statistics that Nigeria has plunged into its worst recession in 3 decades, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has advised the executive against the workability of the proposed 2021 budget.

The politician cum businessman stated that Nigeria is broke and can no longer afford the luxurious items in the N13.08 trillion budget proposal.

Speaking via his official Twitter handle, Atiku lamented that the economic downturn occasioned by the coronavirus has further exacerbated Nigeria’s economic woes.

“We cannot afford hand wringing and navel-gazing. We must act now, by taking necessary, and perhaps painful actions.

“For a start, the proposed 2021 budget presented to the National Assembly on Tuesday, October 8, 2020, is no longer tenable.

READ ALSO: Nigeria Plunges Into Second Recession In Five Years

“Nigeria neither has the resources nor the need to implement such a luxury heavy budget. The nation is broke, but not broken. However, if we continue to spend lavishly, even when we do not earn commensurately, we would go from being a broke nation to being a broken nation.

“Until our economic prospects improve, Nigeria ought to exclusively focus on making budgetary proposals for essential items, which include reasonable wages and salaries, infrastructural projects, and social services (citizenry’s health, and other human development investments).”

Eko Hot Blog gathered that the various committees of the National Assembly are still working on the budget.