The former Governor of Anambra State and Labour Party Presidential candidate during the 2023 presidential election Mr Peter Obi has revealed his observations on the supplementary budget signed recently by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Peter Obi explained the meaning of a supplementary budget and criticized the government in power for neglecting making arrangement to mitigate a forecasted hunger coming in 2024, especially for some affected states in the Northern part of Nigeria which is a warning from the United Nations and the World Food Programme.
He made it clear that the new government in power chose to buy yachts, renovate buildings, and buy expensive cars for a luxurious lifestyle while neglecting the suffering in the country directly affecting the masses or making provision for emergency items that will guarantee food security and welfare of the people.
In his full speech gotten through his verified X account, he said :
A supplementary budget is a budget made for very important national welfare needs of the people which were not captured originally in the main budget, or do not have adequate funding.
Admittedly, some items in the current budget may not have taken into consideration the needs of a new administration, but it is expected that a supplementary budget this late in the financial year should reflect mostly urgent items of national welfare.
Sadly, the most pressing national needs and emergencies have not featured in the supplementary budget that was just announced by the government. For example, the United Nations and World Food Programme have recently alerted that up to 6.5 million Nigerians will go hungry next year. This number is largely from among citizens in Sokoto, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, and Zamfara States. A caring Government in order to plan for the mitigation of such pending catastrophe can request for supplementary budget provisions to cushion those under threat.
No item of urgent social welfare has yet featured in the supplementary budget being orchestrated by this government. Instead, the items being made to dominate public discourse on the budget include a mysterious Presidential Yacht, Presidential Jets, the furnishing of already lavishly furnished presidential quarters and offices, fleets of luxury SUVs etc. This portrays a Government that is totally uncaring and insensitive to the suffering of the majority, and indifferent to the mood of the nation.
The government’s overall attitude does not indicate that it is aware that the country is in a huge crisis, nor is the government in tune with the plight of the generality of our people. Even worse is the fact that most of the funding for these profligate expenditures will be largely borrowed. The least that Nigerians expect from the government at this difficult moment is empathy and realism, not lavish indulgence. -PO “