The Presidency on Saturday denied claims that it will run four budgets in the 2024 fiscal year.
This came as the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Temitope Ajayi, reacted to a thread of tweets by former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, who alleged that the Tinubu-led government was running four budgets concurrently.
A non-profit organisation, BudgiT, had also condemned the proposed elongation of the implementation period of both the 2023 annual and supplementary budget by the Federal Government, describing it as an anomaly.
In a Friday statement by its communications officer, Nancy Odimegwu, BudgiT said it was worrisome that the Federal Government could be drafting a 2024 supplementary budget to be implemented alongside the 2023 yearly budget, 2023 supplementary budget, and 2024 annual budget.
Ajayi wrote, “Yesterday, @BudgITng raised a false alarm on the basis of rumours that FG is planning a 2024 supplementary budget.
“It is important to state that the FG is not planning to run 4 budgets within a fiscal year as being alleged.
“The National Assembly only approved that implementation of the capital components of 2023 budget and 2023 supplementary should be extended to December 2024 to achieve its objectives.”
Ajayi said Nigeria cannot achieve sustainable development when Federal, States and Local governments focus on only consumptive expenditures which is essentially what recurrent expenditures represent.
“It is the capital expenditures that drive economic growth, strengthen private sector output and create employment opportunities for citizens,” he added.
He cautioned the civic organisation, BudgIT, to be wary of flippancy and the propensity to be unduly sensational.
“Expectedly, @PeterObi has jumped on the false claims to push his new round of misinformation,” he said.
