The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the N27.5 trillion budget for the 2024 fiscal year as proposed by President Bola Tinubu to the National Assembly as deceitful, strangulating, and hopeless.
The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, on Wednesday said if the budget is allowed to pass, it will further plunge the nation into more economic depression and hopelessness.
The opposition party charged the National Assembly, pursuant to its constitutional duty under Sections 80, 81, and 82 of the 1999 Constitution, to reject the 2024 budget as presented.
“The PDP calls on the National Assembly pursuant to its Constitutional duty under Section 80, 81 and 82 of the 1999 Constitution to reject the 2024 budget as presented and use its legislative powers to disassemble the budget and make provisions that are critical and pivotal to the growth of the economy and the welfare of Nigerians,” the party said.
Ologunagba said the budget is devoid of concrete mechanisms to revive the economy, create jobs, address the comatose manufacturing and productive sectors, human capital development deficiencies, and depleting the life expectancy of Nigerian citizens.
He alleged that the 2024 budget is filled with heavily padded figures, duplicated items, and several false statistics, including claims of global increase in the inflation rate.
“By adopting a defeatist N750 per US Dollar exchange rate, President Tinubu has further plunged our economy into the abyss, weakened our productive sector, wrecked the purchasing power of Nigerians and the capacity of the youths to be creative, recognizing that it will be almost impossible for Small and Medium Enterprises as well as Startups to access capital under such a suffocating budget.
“This 2024 budget as presented by President Tinubu therefore represents hopelessness for Nigerians. It is pathetic that the President whose main duty is to provide for the security and welfare of Nigerians as provided for in Section 14 (2) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) could present a budget that is not geared towards the attainment of that Constitutional duty imposed on him,” the statement reads.
