A member of House of Representatives, Gudaji Kazure (APC, Jigawa) on Thursday raised alarm over the N1.3 trillion budget of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the 2020 fiscal year, saying it was outrageous.
Kazure also slammed the apex bank for disregarding a resolution of the House over implementation of the money deposit and withdrawal charges by banks, after the House advised the policy be suspended.
Briefing journalists in Abuja, the Jigawa lawmaker vowed to personally sponsor a motion on the floor of the House next week to canvass for a drastic trim down of the budget.
“In 2019, budget of the CBN was N420 billion, but the same CBN brought a budget of N1.3 trillion for 2020. What are they producing? Which revenue are they generating?” he queried.
He said he would persuade the House to ask his colleagues in the Appropriation Committee to bring down the budget of the CBN to N300 million, while the balance of N1 trillion be distributed to health, education and the Federal Government’s N-Power social intervention programme.
“I am pleading with Mr President (Muhammadu Buhari) to ensure that resources are put into places where they will benefit our people,” he said, adding the bank charges were discouraging local people from lodging money even at their risk losing same to robbery.
He also appealed to President Muhammed Buhari to consider re-opening land borders with neighbouring countries, even if temporarily.
The lawmaker said the appeal became necessary in view of the challenges being faced by business men who were caught unaware with the sudden closure, while their goods were already on the way.
“Some of the consignments I have seen deal with time, because they are perishable and the goods I saw are not contrabands. Some of the business men collect loans from bank,” he said.
