Peter Obi insists 2024 budget is ‘prodigal’

.Flays N15bn for VP’s new residence, others

Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Nigeria’s last general election, has insisted that the 2024 fiscal budget presented last week to the National Assembly by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was ‘prodigal’.

Obi said that some of the hefty allocations contained in the budget were not consistent with the current economic reality of Nigeria.

In a slew of tweets on his X handle, the former governor of Anambra State, among other observations, pointedly flayed the humongous amount of money voted for the renovation and construction of new residences for the vice president, who he noted is already “luxuriously housed.”

According to him, “Even as I am still studying the 2024 fiscal budget as presented to the National Assembly last week, I cannot wait as I am compelled to ask: what is exactly wrong with us as a country?

“I ask this question because it is hard for me to understand some of the recent happenings in our nation, in these critical times. The recent news about a budget provision of N15 billion for the construction of a new residence for the Vice President is both shocking and disheartening, considering the many important challenges facing our nation. Just recently in the Supplementary Budget, the sum of N2.5 billion was included for the renovation of the Vice President’s residence in Abuja, which means that he already has a residence.

“Again, during the budget presentation, I heard the sum of N3 billion was allocated for the renovation of the Vice President’s residence in Lagos. If we total all these sums, we would have budgeted the sum of N20.5 billion for the housing of the Vice President at this critical time when we are not just the world’s poverty capital, but more people are falling into poverty, with so many Nigerians not knowing where their next meal will come from. Our health facilities have collapsed, and unemployment is skyrocketing.”

Wondering why the need for another residence for the vice president, Obi said: “I am convinced that 99.9 percent of Nigerians can only dream of living in the current residence of the vice president. Several people employed in the universities are not being paid. Just to give an example, the salary of a professor in a Nigerian university is about N400,000, which without removing tax is about N5 million a year. What we have budgeted for the housing of the vice president who is already luxuriously housed is, therefore, the annual salary of about 3000 professors! This is the finance needed to develop the much-needed human capital.”

Obi also noted that “The budget of N5 billion for student loans, which is yet to be disbursed is only a tiny percentage of the cost of the vice president’s new home. We are projecting to use four times the amount for educating ALL Nigerian indigent students to house the vice president, and we are being told there is nothing wrong with us. I am sure the major teaching hospitals in Nsukka, Lagos, Ibadan, and Zaria did not receive this much capital vote in the budget this year. We have had leaders that were exemplary in the past.”

Read also: Kalu backs Tinubu’s 2024 Budget, says it will address Nigeria’s needs

Delving into history to draw a fitting comparison to illustrate his point, Obi recalled that “Most Nigerians may not know that the popular 1004 flats in Lagos, was a land allocated for the building of a Presidential Mansion for the then Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed.

“He sternly turned down the offer and instructed that the land should be used to build blocks of flats for civil servants. That is the kind of sacrificial leadership worth emulating. Our leaders must, therefore, stop the recklessness and insensitivity to the plight of the masses.”

Urging public office holders to approach their duties with a human face and allow the love of country to be their overarching drive, the politician who loves to describe himself as “a trader”, said: “We need leaders who show compassion and are willing to sacrifice for common progress and development. Such compassionate and frugal leaders are critical in our journey to the New Nigeria.”