By Halimah Olamide
The 2023 Presidential Candidate of the Labour party, Peter Obi, has analyzed the budget of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and has criticized the N15bn allocated tp aides’ travels.
The former Anambra State governor in a post on X, noted that if aides are spending such amount, then it could be assumed that the President and Vice President will spend twice that amount, totalling close to N30bn.
“The sum of N15.961 billion has been budgeted for trips for the aides of the president and the vice president. If the aides are spending this much, one can extrapolate that their principals, the President, and the Vice President, will spend twice as much which will be about N30billion.
“This means that in 2024 the office of the President and Vice President, and their aides will be gulping over N45b for trips alone.”
He further condemned the budget allocation of N20billion to the offices of the President and Vice President in Lagos and Abuja for renovation.
“If you add N45 billion, being the least that will be spent on transportation, and N20 billion earmarked for renovations, it comes to about N65 billion, which is more than N57 billion, being the amount passed by the Senate last week for the Police Trust Fund, to secure over 200m people. Join me in figuring out the alternatives of what this amount can do in real productive terms for our dear country, especially in a critical area like internal security.
“We have over 5000 Police stations and operations, across the country. Half of these police stations have no functional vehicles. Even those that have are given less than N5000 for fuel in a day, which is why if you are lucky, for prominent people like me, to call the police for any intervention in an emergency, the first thing they tell you is – ‘we have no fuel’.” He wrote.
Obi in his statement, suggested patronizing local automobile manufacturers like Innoson as to spending these resources on trips and renovations which are of “no value to growth and productivity.”
“Assuming we decide to prioritise our lists and use these resources as most of the trips and the renovations are of no value to our growth and productivity, we can approach local manufacturers like Innoson and others and order 2500 4×4 trucks which as of today cost about N30 million.
“We will be able to get a 20% discount because we are buying in large quantities and paying them upfront. It will amount to N25 million each, which will be N62.5 billion for half of the police stations that do not have operational vehicles today, and which will be taken care of by the money we save from the budgeted travel and renovations.
“The N15 billion budgeted for the new residence of the Vice President can be used for fuelling police operational cars by tripling their fuel allowances from about N5000 presently to N15,000 per day, which will come to N13.687 billion.
“By prioritizing our planning, and budgeting this way, we will not only be securing the country better but will be making our local industries more productive and profitable, thereby creating the desperately needed Jobs.” He said.
In his conclusion, he called for an urgent review in the budget allocation and advised for it to be revised to align with the needs of the people and bridge the poverty gap.
‘It is time we recognize our difficulty, especially the suffering of the poor masses and prioritize our expenditure.
“That is what we clamor for in the New Nigeria which we insist is very possible.”