The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the last February 25 presidential election, Peter Obi, has flagged Federal Government’s N2.1 trn 2023 supplementary budget, saying it’s doesn’t address the welfare of the people.
According to Obi, the budget didn’t capture the “pressing national needs and emergencies” in the country.
President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday, signed the 2023 supplementary appropriation bill of N2.17 trillion into law.
Obi who recently announced that the Labour Party is now fully in opposition said on Wednesday in a series of tweets posted via his profile on X, that President Tinubu has disappointed the people with his first budget.
The tweets titled, ‘Observations on the Supplementary Budget’ read in parts, “A supplementary budget is a budget made for very important national welfare needs of the people which were not captured originally in the main budget or do not have adequate funding.
“Admittedly, some items in the current budget may not have taken into consideration the needs of a new administration, but it is expected that a supplementary budget this late in the financial year should reflect mostly urgent items of national welfare.”
“Sadly, the most pressing national needs and emergencies have not featured in the supplementary budget that was just announced by the government. For example, the United Nations and World Food Programme have recently alerted that up to 6.5 million Nigerians will go hungry next year.
“This number is largely from among citizens in Sokoto, Adamawa, Borno, Yobe and Zamfara States. A caring government, in order to plan for the mitigation of such pending catastrophe, can request supplementary budget provisions to cushion those under threat”, Obi added.
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