2021 budget: Cut down bogus expenses and address youth restiveness — FG urged

The federal government has been urged to cut down bogus expenses in the 2021 appropriation bill President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier presented to the National Assembly to address youth restiveness by channeling substantial part of the resources to social interventions.

Professor Kamilu Sani Fagge, the former head of Political Science Department at Bayero University Kano made the call on Monday while fielding questions from journalists at a one-day seminar and the formal unveiling of Consortium for Democratic Essence in Nigeria (CoDEN) in Kano state.

• Senate to pass 2021 budget December 3
• Mambilla power project suffers setback as counterpart fund missing in 2021 budget

Fagge argued that investing in the youths through social interventions would proffer a long term solution to the ongoing youth restiveness as it would address the issue of poverty, unemployment and hunger in the land.

“The government has to look at it on a long-term measure. Now people have problems, they have genuine concerns, and how do you address them? You address them not just that kind of window dressing whereby you tell them that you are going to address them and then after a while when the fire dies down you forget it,” he said.

“But government has to take long-term measure especially by looking at the issue of poverty, the issue of unemployment, the issue of hunger, these are all issues that are real which government has to do something about them.

“For me I think the government could address these problems now that the 2021 budget is in the pipeline, if I was to advice the government I will say government should withdraw that budget and cut down bogus expenses in other areas and then channel some part of the resources to social issues I think that will proffer a long term solution and it will cool down the tension,” he said.