LIKE the supplementary budget he packaged in October, President Bola Tinubu has sustained the official proclivity for waste and luxury in the 2024 budget proposals currently before the National Assembly. Apart from the usual preoccupation with furnishing residential buildings, purchase of vehicles, and renovations, the budget earmarks N7.6 billion for his local and international travels and transportation, and N1.84 billion for Vice-President Kashim Shettima’s travels. Despite the harsh living conditions of Nigerians, mass poverty, and record public borrowing and fiscal deficits, the proposals contained no hint of self-sacrifice by the leadership.
The bloated fiscal expenditure is also reflected in the proposed sums for the rehabilitation and repairs for the residences and offices of Tinubu and Shettima in Abuja and Lagos. Mouth-watering sums are proposed for catering, feeding and “catering materials,” vehicles and maintenance at the State House and elsewhere.
Clearly, Tinubu, like his predecessors, is insensitive and wasteful.
Meanwhile, of the N2.17 trillion 2023 Supplementary budget approved last month, huge sums were similarly provided to renovate the official residential quarters of Tinubu and Shettima in two cities. While N4 billion was budgeted in the supplementary votes to “renovate” the Abuja residence of the President, N2.5 billion was voted for the Aguda House, official residence of the VP. Another N4 billion was earmarked for the Dodan Barracks, official Lagos residence of the President, and N3 billion for the Lagos official quarters of the VP.
Apparently, Tinubu is unmoved by the public outcry that greeted the provocative allocation of N1.5 billion for the purchase of vehicles to the First Lady in the supplementary budget. The 2024 votes continue the luxuriating.
While the budget deficit is projected at N9.18 trillion, which is 3.88 per cent of GDP, over 90 per cent of all revenue is currently spent on servicing debts. Nigerians are under unprecedented economic pressure; 63 per cent of them, 133 million, are multidimensionally poor according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The naira is battered, exchanging at N861.65 to $1 at the official, and N1,230 at the parallel market.
Prices of food and drugs have soared out of the reach of the citizens making for a dull yuletide; petrol price jumped from N187 per litre in May to between N588 and N630 per litre currently, while basic infrastructure like roads, primary healthcare, water, and power supply are grossly inadequate.
Unfortunately, Tinubu ignores the enormity of Nigeria’s economic quagmire. He took 422 persons to the recent climate summit in Dubai, including several hangers-on. The President’s profligacy contradicts his homilies.
The National Assembly should act responsibly, vote down the luxuries and waste, and prioritise capital expenditure. Lawmakers should shun the notorious “budget padding,” habit of the past.
The Tinubu administration should imbibe the culture of prudence; he should stop his frequent and unnecessary travels and stay home to tackle the grave challenges facing the country.
The states are also profligate, failing serially to generate enough resources internally, or to devise and implement self-sustaining economic plans. The 774 local government councils have been reduced to parasitic cost centres by state governors and the stooges they manipulate into office as chairmen and councillors.
Nigerians should deploy peaceful means to demand prudence, accountability, and good governance from leaders at the three tiers of government. Civil society groups should not give up the struggle; weakened pressure groups such as the students and the labour unions should wake up from their slumber and recover their patriotic advocacy zeal.
Tinubu, the NASS, state governors and lawmakers should be sensitive, make sacrifices and serve the people diligently and selflessly.
