Otu Nkwado Atiku na Obi, a support group for the Atiku/Obi presidential ticket, on Thursday described the Wednesday’s 2019 budget presentation by President Muhammadu Buhari as a confirmation of his failed leadership.
The goup, in a statement called on the president to begin to pack his personal loads preparatory to his eventual exit from Aso Rock villa.
Maxi Okwu, the Convener of the group, and a seasoned politician, described the budget as “a proposed economic hostility against the good people of Nigeria since the total revenue stands at N6.345 trillion with oil revenue at N3.73 trillion, which makes 59℅ of the total revenue.”
Okwu, who spoke through a statement issued by Okah Kingsley Chukwuebuka, his Special Assistant New Media, further raised concern over the budget forecast bearing the US continued push on her agenda of becoming a net exporter of oil.
He stated that Nigeria under Buhari demonstrated inability to run an expansive economy with capacity to diversify the streams of income.
Okwu maintained that the movement aligned with the view expressed by a manufacturing management professional, Ben Ezeabia, who maintained that “Non-oil revenue is N2.62 trillion while recurrent expenditure is N4.040 trillion. The non-oil revenue cannot even fund the recurrent expenditure.”
According to him, Ezeabia had revealed that “if you remove the oil revenue, there will not be any money to do developmental projects in the country.” He further upheld that such remained the country’ major problem.
Okwu maintained that the movement frowned at the terrible status of the proposed fiscal plan whose debt servicing profile takes N2.140 trillion in the total revenue of N6.345 trillion.
He said: “Suffice it to say that the budget concedes 34% of its strength to debt servicing in an economy where the Nigerian Bereau of Statistics (NBS) just published the staggering unemployment rate that inter alia stands at 20.9million.
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“The simple fact here is that the country uses more money to service debt than capital project. This is the hostile disposition this administration has taken this polity into owing a non existing economic team, which is the more reason we push for Obi as the VP, which will open our economy for mastery coordination.”
The movement wondered what else could mean clueless than the abuse of economic configuration, which it said birth no hope, future and motivation to the state and citizens.
Reacting to the drama that ensued during the budget presentation on Wednesday, where the majority of the NASS members reportedly booed Buhari, the group maintained that such development only showed the general feelings in the streets of Nigeria.
Okwu stated: “To us, the booing is a vote of no confidence and a foretaste for PMB on what Nigerians will do to him at the polls.”.
He called on the patriots to keep faith with Atiku/Obi project as such had “no traces of mendacity, unlike APC and her retinue of lies and propaganda.”
