“Uncaring”, Obi Rubbishes APC Govt as Tinubu Signs 2023 Supplementary Budget of N2.1trn

• Peter Obi has faulted the 2023 supplementary budget, saying it is a proof that the federal government is uncaring and insensitive towards the needs of the masses
• Obi lamented that the budget failed to capture the “pressing national needs and emergencies” in the country
• President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday, November 8, signed the 2023 supplementary appropriation bill of N2.17 trillion into law

Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over 6-year-experience covering politics in Nigeria

FCT, Abuja - Moments after President Bola Tinubu signed the N2.17 trillion supplementary budget into law, Peter Obi took to social media to criticise the financial plan.

Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the February 2023 election, was not impressed with the Supplementary Budget.

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He said he expected that a supplementary budget this late in the financial year would reflect mostly urgent items of national welfare — but the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration's budget didn't, according to him.

Obi wrote on his verified X (formerly Twitter) handle on Wednesday, November 8:

“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 for supplementary budget provisions to cushion those under threat.

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“No item of urgent social welfare has yet featured in the supplementary budget being orchestrated by this government. Instead, the items being made to dominate public discourse on the budget include a mysterious Presidential Yacht, Presidential Jets, the furnishing of already lavishly furnished presidential quarters and offices, fleets of luxury SUVs etc.

"This portrays a government that is totally uncaring and insensitive to the suffering of the majority, and indifferent to the mood of the nation.”

The former Anambra governor continued:

“The government’s overall attitude does not indicate that it is aware that the country is in a huge crisis, nor is the government in tune with the plight of the generality of our people.

"Even worse is the fact that most of the funding for these profligate expenditures will be largely borrowed.

"The least that Nigerians expect from the government at this difficult moment is empathy and realism, not lavish indulgence.”

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Tinubu signs supplementary budget

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that President Tinubu signed the 2023 Supplementary Budget of N2.17 trillion at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The president signed the budget days after the Senate and the House of Representatives passed the N2.17trn 2023 supplementary appropriation bill after a third reading.

Source: Legit.ng