The Peoples Democratic Party has described the N6.8tn 2016 federal budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday as a big fraud.
It also described it as an executive conspiracy which it said was tailored towards mortgaging the future of the nation.
The party, which was in power for 16 years before it was defeated during the last general election, also queried President Buhari’s decision to borrow N2tn, which it described as the biggest in the history of the nation as “the height of recklessness and deceit from a government that trends on propaganda.”
The PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh in Abuja on Tuesday, berated the Federal Government for trying to use their bogus welfare programme and capital projects as cover and conduit to siphon the funds to satisfy partisan interests, particularly to settle huge campaign debts.
Metuh said, “It is obvious that this budget is an extension of the campaign promises of the All Progressives Congress government, presented as a manifesto filled with bogus promises which implementation will be inconclusive, thereby allowing the APC to once again deny their promises.
“There has never been any known economy in the world where government deliberately mortgaged the future of its nation by borrowing excessively to finance partisan interests while hiding under bogus welfare programmes.
“This is more so important as the APC in reeling out their bogus campaign promises never informed Nigerians that they would mortgage their future through excessive borrowing.
“We have it on good authority that this is the first in the series of APC borrowings which would leave the future generation of Nigerians under the burden of huge debts after four years”
Metuh added that the budget clearly showed that after seven months in power, President Buhari and his party, were yet to differentiate between governance and campaign propaganda.
He said, “By all standards, the 2016 budget, the first major economic policy outing of this government, is completely unrealistic and ‘duplicitously’ embellished with impractical predications, a development that confirms fears by economy watchers and investors that this administration is obviously ill-equipped for governance.
“We are indeed shocked that President Buhari and his minister of information have come up with two different reasons for the current fuel crisis in the country.
“While we appreciate the President’s apology, we think it is high time he called this minister to order as his excessive propaganda and blame game are ridiculing this administration and the image of the nation.
“Furthermore, it is instructive to note the official endorsement of Mr. President to the devaluation of the naira as against his campaign promise of firming up the value of our currency even to the much vaunted one naira to one dollar.
“Does it mean that Mr. President lied his way to power, or that he did not understand the complexities of governance when he was making his false promises to Nigerians?”
Metuh added that in future, there was need to regulate campaign promises so that “we will not end up with a government that promises to climb Mount Everest with bare hands and end up mortgaging our future with orchestrated borrowings.”
He called on the President to involve experienced and well-tested hands in the management of the economy and budgeting processes. – Punch
