Lawmakers Disagree Over Tinubu’s “Empty Budget Boxes’

Dust has yet to settle over the 2024 Financial Estimate presented by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the National Assembly on Tuesday.

A lawmaker from Jigawa state had accused the president of breaking the tradition by presenting empty budget boxes to the joint session of the national assembly.

Yusuf Galambi, a lawmaker in the House of Representatives who spoke hours after President Tinubu presented the budget said what happened what strange, that it has never happned before.

He said, “The president read out to us his speech on the proposed budget but we’ve not seen the document to work on.

“Of course, he read the estimates for the various sectors. But as it has always been the tradition, a document is always presented (to the lawmakers) but he (Mr Tinubu) didn’t do that.”

If he (Mr Tinubu) was not ready, if the budget proposal was not ready to be presented, he shouldn’t have come and said he was done. We could have given him more time, why the haste? Why would he come and read something and even say he has kept it (document) when it’s empty,” he said.

Reacting Ado Alhassan Doguwa, a lawmaker from Kano state, and former Leader of the House of Representatives, said President Tinubu had sent the soft copy of the budget to NASS in a hard drive.

He said the hard drive had been sent to NASS ahead the verbal presentation on Tuesday.

According to him, the lawmakers are satisfied with Tinubu’s presentation, touching all the economic sectors.

Doguwa said: “I write in response to the mischievous insinuations that Mr. President laid empty boxes before the National Assembly on the day he presented the Appropriation Bill 2024.”

“What people don’t know is that Mr President had earlier submitted a flash drive as a soft copy of the 2024 Budget, which is now being printed out in hard copies, and as usual, brought one single hard copy of the budget to the floor,” Doguwa stated.

“Be that as it may, senators and honourable members were satisfied and were conveniently guided by the verbal presentation and the way Mr President dissected the budget and gave a specific analysis of the funds allocated to the various sectors of the economy. I, therefore, want to say that any media or mischievous reports insinuating that Mr. President laid empty boxes were not true and unfounded.”

Meanwhile, the Presidency said on Friday that the allegation was meant to mislead the public. Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Print Media, said the president is never expected to present the whole haul of heavy documents to NASS.