2020 Budget Padded, Duplicated And Deceptive – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the 2020 budget presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari was padded, duplicated and filled with false performance indices.

Naija News reports that Buhari had on Tuesday presented a budget of N10.33 trillion for the 2020 fiscal year.

Speaking on the budget estimates, Buhari revealed that the nation’s Gross Domestic Product has grown from 1.93 per cent in 2018 to 2.02 per cent in the first half of 2019 and the external reserves rose from $23bn in October 2016 to $42bn in Sept 2019.

The president promised that his government will raise the threshold for VAT registration to N25m turnover per annum, to bring relief to small(est) businesses.

Reacting in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP urged the legislature to redirect the 2020 budget to areas that would better serve the majority of Nigerians.

“The core of the budget remains hazy, showing streaks of padding, duplication, replete with false performance indices, deceptive projections and inexplicable expenditure assertions.

“The budget is skewed to serve the interest of the opulent, as projects that have direct bearing on the well-being of the masses were not substantially accommodated in the overall expenditure profile,” the PDP stated.

The main opposition berated the administration of President Buhari for allocation “vague projects” to the ministries of works and housing as well as transportation.

The PDP accused the works and housing ministry as well as the transportation of diverting public funds in the 2019 budget.

The party also condemned what it described as paltry budgets of N48 billion for education and N46 billion for health.