ByMusa Ude, National News Editor
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday presented a budget of N8.83 trillion for the 2019 fiscal year, amidst loud jeering and disruptions by disappointed lawmakers from the opposition.
This figure is N300 billion lower than the running 2018 budget, which many analysts say has under-performed in critical sectors.
A breakdown of the budget shows that N4.04 trillion or 50.31 per cent is earmarked for recurrent expenditure and N2.03 trillion representing 22.98 per cent earmarked for capital projects.
In an unusual reaction, as the president unveiled details of the budget to ajoint session of the National Assembly, members of opposition started booing the President as he highlightedsome of the successes so far recorded by his administration.
The actions of the lawmaker made the President to remind the aggrieved lawmakers that, “The world is watching us and we are supposed to be above this.”
While some sang solidarity songs, other shouted ‘lies’ after every of Mr Buhari’s claims.
The Deputy Minority Leader, Mr Chukwuka Onyema, who spoke to journalists after the rowdy session, with the PDP caucus in the House, said the claims by the administration of stepping up citizens’ security was “partly-punctured” by a report issued by the Amnesty International this week, stating that more than 3, 600 killings since 2016, with 310 attacks recorded between January 2016 and October 2018, 57 per cent of which took place in 2018 alone.
He also accused the government of lack of vision in managing the economy, adding that the daily increasing number of unemployed or sacked Nigerians attested to the APC administration’s failure.
Onyema further pointed out that “again too, as it has always done, the APC government known for its unique ideology of ‘blame-ology’ will start apportioning of blames to all else, except itself.
“For a government that came into power promising utopia, consistently dismal implementation of the national budget betrays its half-hearted, insensitivity to the plight of the Nigerian people who long for genuine progress and development that will positively impact their lives.
“Yet since 2015, it has been an unfortunate harvest of lies, blames and propaganda while its over hyped campaign promises of security, economic growth and war against corruption have remained a mirage.”
