A former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to recall the 2021 budget proposal he presented to the National Assembly on Thursday, saying it contravenes Fiscal Responsibility Act.
Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general election, in a statement on Friday night said the President should recall the budget and recalibrate it to reflect the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007, and the current economic realities of the nation.
He argued that doing otherwise would not only be unpatriotic but catastrophic for the nation’s economy.
“The budget deficit in the proposal is 5.21 trillion.
“This amount is just over 3.5% of Nigeria’s 2019 GDP.
“This is contrary to the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007, which provides in Part II, Section 12, subsection 1 that: ‘Aggregate Expenditure and the Aggregate amount appropriated by the National Assembly for each financial year shall not be more than the estimated aggregate revenue plus a deficit, not exceeding three per cent of the estimated Gross Domestic Product or any sustainable percentage as may be determined by the national Assembly for each financial year’.”
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