Member Representing Ibadan North Federal constituency in the National Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adewale Akinremi Jagaban has advised opposition parties to stop misleading Nigerians and said President Bola Tinubu didn't submit an empty budget box during his budget presentation on Wednesday.

The lawmaker revealed that President Tinubu had submitted a flash drive of the whole budget before his presentation to the joint chambers.

Jagaban, while reacting in a statement he personally signed and made available to journalists in Ibadan, described the opposition party as childish and a misrepresentation of fact.

The statement reads in part, " President Tinubu's analysis of the budget is well detailed, the first of its kind in recent times. What people don’t know is that Mr. President had earlier submitted a flash drive as a soft copy of the 2024 Budget, which is now being printed out in hard copies, and as usual, brought one single hard copy of the budget to the floor". As an old, experienced member, I fully understand the due process for submitting the budget, whether hard or soft copies. It is important that we allow the house to do their jobs in partnership with the relevant agencies.

However, he advised opposition parties to criticize constructively and not send a wrong message to the populace looking up to them as leaders.

"Yes, there is right to criticize the government, but deliberately misinforming the public in the name of criticism is wrong, and we must discourage that as leaders in order not to heat the polity. "

Jagaban assured Nigerians that the National Assembly will work with relevant ministries and government agencies to pass the budget as early as possible in order to benefit the ordinary people whom, he said, President Tinubu has taken into consideration areas of security, local job creation, macro-economic stability, investment environment optimization, human capital development, poverty reduction, and social security in the 2024 Budget of Renewed Hope.