Dannieln1: This is the first time this government has spoken the truth and has given us fact beyond reasonable doubt
Really Let us examine the case of Sule Lamido and This Day newspaper just as an example of Buhari's VINDICTIVE nature of fighting his enemies =>
Lamido Accuses Buhari of Divisive Campaigns
Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State has accused the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress APC), Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, of divisive campaigns in the northern and southern parts of the country. Stating this yesterday at the Malam Aminu Kano Triangle during the official declaration of the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state and a former chief of staff, Malam Aminu Ibrahim Ringim, alongside his running mate, Dr Nurudeen Mohammad, Lamido noted that a critical look at the situation on the ground exposes people like Buhari as being insincere in both intent and purpose.
Elaborating, Lamido alleged that when Buhari talks to the electorate in the North, he usually plays up the religious card, but once he is in the South, he plays it down by harping on the unity of Nigeria.
Lamido wondered why Buhari had gone out of his way to select a Christian as his running mate and what this portends, adding: “Why then are our people vilified and maligned because they refuse to vote for a Muslim as their president and have opted for a Christian? “If not, why is it that he chose a Christian as his running mate and shunned the Muslim community, then he turns round to tell the people in the North that his contest is anchored on promoting and guiding their ideological faith.”
The governor was of the opinion that “so long as we want Nigeria to get out of her present predicament, we must be sincere in the way we practise democracy so as to avoid a bloodbath and the rampant killing of Nigerians because of the interest of a few individuals." Not stopping at blaming solely the former military head of state, Lamido said the main problem of Nigeria today politically speaking is the duo of President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP and his main rival, Buhari, who will be squaring up against each other in the 2015 presidential election.
I am a frontline critic of Buhari but I try to avoid calling him a bigot or Muslim Fanatic because for me I personally feel that topic alone clouds other very poor qualities of Buhari which is the fact that the man does not really offer much in terms of leadership, brilliance, grasp of the issues or solution on how to move the country forward.
But when Sule Lamido says this about Buhari then we have to listen. Hausa Fulani muslim Northerners are not known to criticise fellow Muslims on issues of Faith and ethnicity. Yet Lamido can not be described as one of Jonathan's staunchest ally.
But the allegations that Buhari campaigns in the North as the defender of the Islamic faith but comes to the South to preach about National Unity really needs to be explored. These are very serious allegations!
Now Lamido went on to criticise Jonathan Goodluck because of the comments of Edwin Clarke and Asari Dokubo. I agree that Asari and Clarke needs to be called to order but there is a difference between ethnic warlords making threats on behalf of the candidates and a Presidential candidate directly playing religious card openly in the North while saying something else in the South.
This is serious
Was Lamido not his first EFCC arrest target just one month after being sworn in as president and then Nduka of This Day
Johnnyessence: Jul 07, 2015 The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has re-arrested former Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, and his two sons — Aminu and Mustapha — over N1.3 billion fraud.
The spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the arrest of the former governor.
A source at the commission also said the former governor and his sons were moved to Kano, the Kano State capital, on Tuesday, preparatory to their trial in court later this week.
Mr. Lamido’s sons had earlier been arrested in Kano and flown to Abuja in November 2013 while their father enjoyed immunity as the Jigawa State governor.
The now ex-governor surrendered himself to the commission at the end of his tenure on June 15.
xandy84: On the railway. Some of those railway GEJ bought are better than the ones we use here in Chicago. I'm not a fan of GEJ but to expect bullet trains is to ask for too much of him.
Is Chicago not where Tinubu was in the US? Yet for 17 years the progreTHIEF administrations of Tinubu/Fashola/Ambode could not do what Jonathan achieved in 5 years. Even after chopping $1 billion loan that Lagosians must repay. APC = HYPOCRISY = APC.
TTC in talks to sell old trains to Lagos. Are they safe enough? AUGUST 10, 2011
As Toronto trainspotters gleefully take maiden rides on the TTC's Rocket, commuters in Lagos, Nigeria may be about to get some new trains of their own. Our old ones.
A TTC spokesperson has confirmed that the commission is negotiating with a private group to sell up to 260 used train cars to the West African megacity's new transit project.
"I can confirm that the TTC is in discussion with a third party that wants to purchase trains for Lagos," said commission spokesperson Brad Ross. "Over a period of time, they will be taken out of service and then transported over to Nigeria."
The cars being considered for sale are the TTC's old H-5 and H-6 models, which will be decommissioned as the TTC rolls out its new fleet of Rockets. Ross predicts the earliest they could be shipped to Nigeria is sometime in 2012.
Traffic snarls are already a major economic problem in the Nigerian capital, a booming city that will reach an estimated population of 25 million by 2015. A new above-ground rail system designed to carry 1.5 million people a day has already broken ground, and Lagos Governor Babtunde Fashola has said it "will be the most multi-dimensional and most impactful" of the government's efforts to reduce traffic congestion.
Fashola visited Toronto earlier this year to inspect the TTC trains.
The Lagos deal would be the first of its kind for the TTC. Decommissioned cars are usually sold for scrap metal and can fetch up to $1,500 dollar each. While Ross declined to discuss specific figures, he says the sticker price for Lagos is "significantly more" than scrap prices, putting the potential profits to the TTC in the millions of dollars.
It is not unusual for technology from western nations to end up in poorer countries. Marketplaces in Africa and Asia are flooded with North American clothes, computers, and even cars, but the purchase of larger technology like trains is rarer.
The cars will have to be significantly refurbished to fit existing infrastructure in Lagos, and some Nigerian media reports have lamented that the government appears to have settled on "tokundo," or used, trains instead of brand new vehicles.
Although half the cars are more than 30 years old, Ross is adamant they are perfectly safe and are only being decommissioned for capacity reasons. But he also admitted the TTC is not required to make sure the cars meet any safety standards before selling them.
"Once sold, it's up to the new operator to ensure they are in good working order," he said. "They do need to be maintained much more frequently than the new trains, simply because of their age. At some point they will run out their useful life."
Murtaza Haider, director of the Institute of Housing and Mobility at Ryerson University, said the age of the cars is definitely a cause for concern.
"We should be ensuring that there is some service life left in these vehicles and we're not going to be playing havoc with the lives of those who would ride these vehicles," Haider said. "There's metal fatigue, and that metal fatigue could result in dangerous conditions. I would be paying a close watch on this for the next ten years to see how many accidents do happen in Lagos."
He also warned that while rail systems are glamorous as far as transit infrastructure goes, they are not always as effective at reducing congestion as other options. Nevertheless, new rail systems are frequently preferred because governments can take advantage of kickbacks from large contracts.
According to media reports, the cost estimates for the Lagos rail project have varied wildly from $1.2 billion to $30 billion. In 2010, a Nigerian government watchdog accused Fashola's government of widespread corruption.
"More often than not, politicians favour rail transit because it is more expensive," Haider said. "It's almost useless in some cases, and less productive in most cases, than a bus system. But you can't buy busses for $30 billion. You can inflate prices and make a lot of money buying a rail system."
How We Spent N160bn World Bank Loan on Light Rail Project 11 Sep 2014 . . . . He, therefore, explained that the state government already “has in place, strategies to repay the loan. The federal government was in the know of the state’s decision to take the bond and it approved it.”
He added that the truth “is that what they do not also say is that no state in Nigeria can borrow money outside, from any multilateral agencies without the approval of the federal government.
“What they did not say is that they approved it. No state can raise money by bond the way we have done without the federal government’s approval. Both SEC and NSE are all federal regulatory agencies through which we must pass. If they said okay, it means there must be something good about the debt.
MORE than 30 years ago, a young general swept to power in the fifth of Nigeria’s military coups since independence in 1960. The country he inherited was a mess: bled dry by pilfering politicians within and hammered by falling oil prices without. Last year that general, Muhammadu Buhari, became president again—this time in a democratic vote. The problems he has inherited are almost identical. So are many of his responses. In the eight months since Mr Buhari arrived at Aso Rock, the presidential digs, the homicidal jihadists of Boko Haram have been pushed back into the bush along Nigeria’s borders. The government has cracked down on corruption, which had flourished under the previous president, Goodluck Jonathan, an ineffectual buffoon who let politicians and their cronies fill their pockets with impunity. Lai Mohammed, a minister, reckons that just 55 people stole $6.8 billion from the public purse over seven recent years.
Mr Buhari, who—unusually among Nigeria’s political grandees—is said to have just $150,000 and a couple of hundred cattle to his name, abhors such excess. As military ruler he jailed, fired or forced into retirement thousands of bureaucrats whose fingers had been in the till. This time, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested dozens of bigwigs, including a former national security chief accused of diverting $2.2 billion. The EFCC has a poor record of securing convictions; but a single treasury account has been introduced to try to stop civil servants siphoning off cash. And agencies which may not be remitting their fair share to the state are having their books trawled by Kemi Adeosun, the finance minister. Such measures are doubly important because the economy is swooning along with the oil price. The sticky stuff directly accounts for only 10% of GDP, but for 70% of government revenue and almost all of Nigeria’s foreign earnings.
Oil’s price has fallen by half, to $32 a barrel, in the months since the new government came to power, sending its revenues plummeting. Income for the third quarter of 2015 was almost 30% lower than for the same period the year before, and foreign reserves have dwindled by $9 billion in 18 months. Ordinarily there would be buffers to cushion against such shocks, but Mr Jonathan’s cronies have largely squandered them. Growth was about 3% in 2015, almost half the rate of the year before and barely enough to keep pace with the population. The stockmarket is down by half from its peak in 2014. Domestic oil producers are feeling the pinch worst. Many borrowed heavily to buy oilfields when crude was worth more than $100 a barrel, and are now struggling to pay the interest on loans, says Kola Karim, the founder of Shoreline Group, a Nigerian conglomerate. This, in turn, threatens to create a banking crisis. About 20% of Nigerian banks’ loans were made to oil and gas producers (along with another 4% to underperforming power companies). Capital cushions are plumper than they were during an earlier banking crisis in 2009; but, even so, bad debts are mounting and banks that are exposed to oil producers may find themselves in trouble. “It wouldn’t surprise me if one or two went down,” says a senior banker in Nigeria. The government’s response to the crisis has been three-pronged. First, it is trying to stimulate the economy with a mildly expansionary budget. At the same time, it is trying to protect its dwindling hard-currency reserves by blocking imports. Third, it is trying to suppress inflation by keeping the currency, the naira, pegged at 197-199 to the dollar. Only the first of these policies seems likely to work. The budget, which includes a plan to spend more on badly needed infrastructure, is a step in the right direction. Although government revenues are under pressure from the falling oil price, Mr Buhari hopes to offset that by plugging “leakages” (a polite term for theft) and taxing people and businesses more. That seems reasonable. At 7%, Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio is pitifully low. Every percentage point increase could yield $5 billion of extra cash for the coffers, reckons Kayode Akindele of TIA Capital, an investment firm. Mr Buhari also plans to save some $5 billion-$7 billion a year by ending fuel subsidies—a crucial reform, if he sticks with it. Even so he will be left with a deficit of $15 billion (3% of GDP) that will have to be filled by domestic and foreign borrowing.
Yet his policies on the currency seem likely to stymie that. The central bank has frozen the naira at its current overvalued official rate for almost a year. The various import bans (on everything from soap to ballpoint pens) are supposed to reduce demand for dollars, but have little effect. Businesses that have to import essential supplies to keep their factories running complain that they have been forced into the black market, where the naira currently trades at 300 or more to the dollar. Several local manufacturers have suspended operations. International investors, knowing that the value of their assets could tumble, have slammed on the brakes and some have pulled money out of the country just as their dollars are most needed (see chart). Nigeria is fortunate in having low levels of public debt (less than 20% of GDP), but it is not helped by high interest rates, which mean that 35% of government revenue goes straight out of the door again to service its borrowings. It would not take much to push it into a debt crisis.
Fullamafia: The telegraph needs to investigate this journalist, as that report we read seemed to be written by a Chigozie Coughlin than a Con Coughlin, judging from the sheer amount of falsehood, misinformation and outright ignorance that was contained in the report.
The respected publication had better start some housecleaning asap. Coughlin ko, Procold ni.
Did you read the story or you did not understand that he has only travelled TWICE unlike DullardPoo who travels every week. When I say "illite" you say "rate".
She is in Aso Rock chopping the life of her head at your expense.
Firefire: ‘A budget that moves domestic spending in Aso Villa from N580m to N1.7bn cannot be a budget of change’
Abuja – Sen. Eyinnaya Abaribe (PDP Abia South) on Wednesday in Abuja, berated the 2016 budget and called on President Muhammaduu Buhari to withdraw it and go back to the drawing board.
Abaribe while making contributions during the consideration of the budget, said the proposal was faulty on many grounds and could not be implemented at it was.
He said that predication of oil benchmark at 38 dollars per barrel when the crude oil price had fallen below 30 dollars per barrel made the budget unrealistic.
Abaribe faulted the government for increasing spending by 30 per cent based on borrowing.
“Mr President, my colleagues, this budget is indeed unique. After the budget presentation, the finance minister has never come to explain the details of the budget as it is normally done.
“It is a budget of change I agree, but it is a change in the wrong direction. I say it is a change in the wrong direction because it says that it is based on zero budgeting requiring all expenses to be fully justified.
“Mr President, a budget that increases spending up to 30 per cent based solely on borrowing, in what way are we justified? That is the question we want to ask the people who brought this budget.
“We know what is going on in the global economy: this budget is predicated on an oil benchmark of 38 dollars per barrel and I can now say that with oil being 28 dollars today, this budget is dead on arrival.
“The job of the opposition is to help the government to get its priorities right, so I want to please urge this government to withdraw this budget and go back to the drawing board,” he said.
The senator also faulted the adjustments made in the budget as well as allocation for spending in the Aso Rock Villa, saying that it was too exorbitant.
He said that the adjustments rather than reduce spending in areas where they were not necessary only spread it into different offices. “Mr President, a budget that moves domestic spending within Aso Villa from N580 million to N1.7 billion cannot be a budget of change.
“We were told that in the revised budget there was an adjustment due to error, we agree but what has happened is that up to N7 billion were moved from buying vehicles and spread to offices.
“It also increased the spending that is due to renovations within the Villa.
“They are going to renovate the Villa with N3.9 billion: what else do you want to renovate there that Nigerians will see in the Year 2016?” he asked.
However, in his contribution, Sen. Ahmed Lawan (APC Yobe North) blamed the previous administration for the lack of funds due to the embezzlement witnessed in previous governments.
He said that this was the 17th budget he would be debating as a legislator and noted that not more than 40 per cent implementation was achieved in the last 16 years.
“The proposal before us is the first budget where the executive has deemed it necessary to give ordinary Nigerians genuine hope.
“N500 billion allocated for school feeding and social SAFTEY NET is commendable.
“It is time to say oil should not continue to play dominant role as we have suffered economically and politically: it is time to diversify this economy.
“The direction of the executive is the way to go. `That is, we should make every effort to have the real sector-agric mining and manufacturing.
“The budget deserves the support of everyone, including my colleagues on the other side. When we were in the opposition we supported the PDP, they should support us,” he said.
This throwback abi na flashback is meaningless without the MINIMUM wage then compared to N18,000 today vis-a-viz what politicians collect from us today.
Did Wole Soyinka say that in 1984 to our Canceler in Chief
Splashme: The first civilian governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, on Tuesday, said that the cancellation of the Lagos metroline project in 1985 was a major mistake and disservice to many Nigerians.
Jakande spoke in Lagos during the launch of a book which chronicled his life in politics and journalism.
The book, entitled, ‘Jakande: Leadership in Action’ is written by Dr. Bola Olaosebikan, who told the audience at the event that the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), was not responsible for the cancellation of the project.
Jakande said, “Reflecting on the metroline project, I think it is a major disservice to many Nigerians. Imagine how many people would have benefitted. It would have made life easier and changed the face of transport in Lagos. Whoever cancelled it or gave the advice towards its cancellation didn’t do right.”
The former governor asked Nigerians not to vote for unserious leaders in the coming polls, saying the elections presented Nigerians with a good opportunity that should not be squandered.
Expressing the hope that Nigeria would soon overcome its developmental challenges, Jakande said hope would be actualised faster if credible people emerged as leaders in the next dispensation.
He said, “This book comes at a very auspicious time in Nigeria’s history as we need leaders who can act. We need leaders who would not compromise the standards of good governance. God has blessed this nation the most in Africa, although we have not reached where we should be; with the right leaders, Nigeria would overcome its challenges.”
Bloggz74: And your conscience was thrown into the bin when another uncle from south south was stealing or because he used it for ruling party elections? Bros why na?
Don't mind the HYPOCRISY of the zombie followers of APCshit o jare.
Dollarization Of The APC Primaries: How Amaehi Vanquished Atiku #saibuhari
The blogosphere was inundated with reports of the excessive sharing of dollars at the All Progressives Congress which took place during the latter part of last week.
One APC supporter and Special Adviser to Osun Governor on Environment, BolaIlori had blown the scandal open after he saw the beginning stages of the dollarization in action.
He took to his Facebook page and scribbled, “Crazy things are happening here!!! Some of these cannot represent the change Nigeria is yearning for. Excessive dollarization by one of the aspirants to is to say the least obscene. I have been involved in political process for decades now, I have never witnessed this volume of raw dollarization of party primaries. I only read about this kind of things in PDP primaries. A question been asked by conscientious delegates is that whoever can be giving out between $2000 to $5000 to…delegates certainly does not represent the kind of change Nigerians want…those who contributed to the pauperization of Nigeria now revel in dollarization… majority of Ondo delegates are still standing with Buhari but have been reduced from 85% to 70% within 24 hours…the remaining has gone with dollars ooo.!!!!!”
One has to wonder how Buhari was able to win the primaries in this era of stomach infrastructure where dollars are like the Biblical manna that God sent down from heaven to nourish the Israelites as they made their way to the promised land.
Sources close to the APC with knowledge of the way the Primaries unfolded have revealed that it was Rivers State Governor, Amaechi who flew back to Rivers State and returned to Lagos on Thursday morning with enough dollars to make Benjamin Franklin blush.
It has been revealed that Atiku offered the delegates $5000 each, but Amaechi doubled it to $10000 a pop. Thus turning the tables in favour of General Buhari.
Since his adventure into the APC, Amaechi has gone out of his way to prove himself a party loyalist, always the first to shoki or azonto at the many events the APC holds, which he himself is usually the chief sponsor.
According to party insiders, Amaechi has overtaken Tinubu as the major financier of the party. One does not need to wonder why he is always at President Jonathan’s throat over misappropriated oil wells or other such business. Anything that diminishes from the State’s coffers will have a ripple effect on his funding budget for the APC.
Sunnycliff: I once said that thee margin of APC senators to PDP senators is not more than 12. If Saraki pulls out at least 8 senators from APC will join him and this makes the number of APC senators to be lower compared to PDP. And with PDP been in majority that means they will vote in their own and in any case it's a lose lose for APC.
Saraki is the legendary tsetsefly on the scrotum of the APC political leadership!
superdanny10: I guess PMB will travel to each & every country in all continent before the end of his tenure & do things he hasn't done before during his first rule as a military government.
Its your time, enjoy it while it last long...
SAI BABA!!!
Yes oh, make Sai Baba dey enjoy dey go flying our jets everywhere even for condom meeting. It does not matter that in our own country there is
- no fuel - no forex - no power - no salary
All that does not matter to the zombies as long as Sai Bubu keeps flying.
jmichlins: Please comeback safely and import any available technology there. Some may say you traveling for fun but many know more
Will he also import the Chinese to run/use the technology since he has not invested in education for ALL children and not fulfilled his campaign promise on education? Abi na paparazzi photo be the change chain wey dem promise
Akshow: Birthday club cake though still tacky cannot be used to justify the sheer stupidity of this gov who traveled with an entourage to Europe to watch Madrid.
Same stupidity of INFERIORITY complex and colo-mentality. Different levels/degree. Don't you agree
nkemjacob2: Hey. D people of port harcourt una dne enter 1 chance. For dis man to go watch match. For we stadium make e dey support awka united, eyimba, rangers make our sport they attactive e carry state money go flex. I no say no b ur money oo. Our leaders done come again wit unnecessay spendings... Leaders wey no get ambition other than loot.
Wike is not alone oh, bro. Even the so called "excellent" Fashola enter the matter.
Nigeria's Leaders' Shallow Mentality: Even at levels as high as the governor's office, they still subscribe to the stupid mentality of supporting foreign institutions blindly to the detriment of their own. Is the Lagos State government a shareholder in the Manchester United football business or what? How come a British football club, 6,500 kilometres away is being given free advert while the Stationery Stores FC of Lagos State is totally crippled and is not on the world's football radar? I just don’t understand the sense behind these ugly cakes. What purpose do these symbols of cakey "bitter" cakes (with full insignia of Lagos State imposed side by side that of Man U logo) serve the interests of Lagosians except to continually get investments, recognition, etc., out of the state in favour of Manchester, UK which sadly still, did not solicit for the advert in any way? What about the effect this picture will have on unsuspecting, young, impressionable and naive minds in many years to come? I just can't come to terms with this childish idea at Fashola’s 50th birthday. It just steers logic on its head.
I love Fashola but I'm really disappointed at this anomaly at his 50th birthday. Hear this! Governor Fashola, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Governor Rotimi Amaechi, the management of Manchester United does not even know you guys exit, so please stop deluding yourselves and get on with the business of empowering your people and country. These Nigerian dealers (not leaders) must be jesters fit only for the circus. What a shame!
Na wetin consgine a whole governor celebrating a FOREIGN football club when he does not ACTIVELY promote the ones in his backyard Why are we black people so SHALLOW and have such inferiority complex that we grovel for oyinbo people and things while we ROT away and complain of neo-COLONIALISM? Where is our sense of pride and integrity about ourselves and our own things? Where
Nigeria using UK aid to persecute president's political foes rather to fight Boko Haram
Hundreds of millions of pounds of British foreign aid given to Nigeria to help combat Boko Haram terrorists is instead being used to fund a witch-hunt against opposition politicians, it is being claimed. Britain has committed to spending £860 million in foreign aid to Nigeria, which now boasts Africa’s largest economy, to help support the country’s efforts to crush Boko Haram terror group, which has been responsible for a spate of outrages, including the kidnapping of hundreds of Nigerian schoolgirls.
But Western officials are now raising concerns that the government of the country’s recently elected leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, is misusing the funds to persecute political opponents.
Since Mr Buhari came to power last July, a number of prominent members of the former ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have been arrested and imprisoned without charge. Among those detained was the party’s official spokesperson.
Most of the arrests have been sanctioned by the government-controlled Economic and Financial Crime Commission, which was set up to tackle corruption and receives funding from the Department for International Development.
But while Mr Buhari’s government continues to use British aid money to target his political opponents, it is proving less effective at tackling the Islamist-run Boko Haram terrorist group.
Much of the aid Britain provides to Nigeria is aimed at helping the country’s security forces to become more effective at tackling Boko Haram, which boasts of its links with Islamic State (Isil) and achieved international notoriety two years ago after kidnapping 276 schoolgirls in northern Nigeria two years ago.
Unfortunately our "only saviour" president cannot come to their rescue. He will rather fight for his fellow Fulanis than be the president of the ENTIRE country. We don enter am for one chance danfo bus.
Firefire: Mohoomodu Buhari is a tyrant, a BIG bigot and sectional leader.
jmichlins: This is something many will NEVER experience in their life and next and yet have the audacity to call my president a dullard and i wonder with their smart brain and intelligence why they will never experience such. Ride on my president fools can hang in pains
Omoakinsuyi: How much is being borrowed to fund Buhari's foreign trips?
How much is being BORROWED to feed Buhari in Aso Rock villa
Firefire: ‘A budget that moves domestic spending in Aso Villa from N580m to N1.7bn cannot be a budget of change’
Abuja – Sen. Eyinnaya Abaribe (PDP Abia South) on Wednesday in Abuja, berated the 2016 budget and called on President Muhammaduu Buhari to withdraw it and go back to the drawing board.
Abaribe while making contributions during the consideration of the budget, said the proposal was faulty on many grounds and could not be implemented at it was.
He said that predication of oil benchmark at 38 dollars per barrel when the crude oil price had fallen below 30 dollars per barrel made the budget unrealistic.
Abaribe faulted the government for increasing spending by 30 per cent based on borrowing.
“Mr President, my colleagues, this budget is indeed unique. After the budget presentation, the finance minister has never come to explain the details of the budget as it is normally done.
“It is a budget of change I agree, but it is a change in the wrong direction. I say it is a change in the wrong direction because it says that it is based on zero budgeting requiring all expenses to be fully justified.
“Mr President, a budget that increases spending up to 30 per cent based solely on borrowing, in what way are we justified? That is the question we want to ask the people who brought this budget.
“We know what is going on in the global economy: this budget is predicated on an oil benchmark of 38 dollars per barrel and I can now say that with oil being 28 dollars today, this budget is dead on arrival.
“The job of the opposition is to help the government to get its priorities right, so I want to please urge this government to withdraw this budget and go back to the drawing board,” he said.
The senator also faulted the adjustments made in the budget as well as allocation for spending in the Aso Rock Villa, saying that it was too exorbitant.
He said that the adjustments rather than reduce spending in areas where they were not necessary only spread it into different offices. “Mr President, a budget that moves domestic spending within Aso Villa from N580 million to N1.7 billion cannot be a budget of change.
“We were told that in the revised budget there was an adjustment due to error, we agree but what has happened is that up to N7 billion were moved from buying vehicles and spread to offices.
“It also increased the spending that is due to renovations within the Villa.
“They are going to renovate the Villa with N3.9 billion: what else do you want to renovate there that Nigerians will see in the Year 2016?” he asked.
However, in his contribution, Sen. Ahmed Lawan (APC Yobe North) blamed the previous administration for the lack of funds due to the embezzlement witnessed in previous governments.
He said that this was the 17th budget he would be debating as a legislator and noted that not more than 40 per cent implementation was achieved in the last 16 years.
“The proposal before us is the first budget where the executive has deemed it necessary to give ordinary Nigerians genuine hope.
“N500 billion allocated for school feeding and social SAFTEY NET is commendable.
“It is time to say oil should not continue to play dominant role as we have suffered economically and politically: it is time to diversify this economy.
“The direction of the executive is the way to go. `That is, we should make every effort to have the real sector-agric mining and manufacturing.
“The budget deserves the support of everyone, including my colleagues on the other side. When we were in the opposition we supported the PDP, they should support us,” he said.
Politics › Re: See How Buhari Reacted 2 Allegations He's Using UK Aid 2 Fight His Opponents by anonimi: 1:31am On Apr 14, 2016*. Modified: 2:10am On Apr 14, 2016
