Budget critics don’t understand arithmetic – Tinubu
President Bola Tinubu has stated that critics of the 2024 budget, passed by the National Assembly, do not understand “the arithmetic.”
Senator Abdul Ningi had alleged that the budget was padded by ₦3trillion, with nebulous project insertions that have no locations for their executions. Following his outburst, the Senate suspended Ningi.
On Thursday, while hosting Senators to iftar (breaking of Ramadan fasting), President Tinubu said those “talking about malicious embellishment in the budget did not understand the arithmetic and did not refer to the baseline of what I brought.”
He also acknowledged the increase in the total budget cost, which the National Assembly had inserted by way of constituency projects.
Tinubu’s information and strategy adviser, Bayo Onanuga, had, in a previous release, said that the President glossed over the budget increment as an exchange of goodwills between him and the parliamentarians.
Also at the event, President Tinubu promised an improvement in Nigeria’s economic situation.
“On the current economic difficulty, we are about turning the corner. Our revenue has improved. All we have to do is to control expenditure and manage ourselves better,” the President said. President Tinubu’s admonition follows his recent directive banning foreign travels by government appointees.
The President also spoke about the recent killing of 17 soldiers in Okuama, Delta State.
President Tinubu reaffirmed his commitment to seeing that the culprits face justice. He assured that his administration would continue to support the military in their fight against insurgency.
