President Muhammad Buhari, yesterday, approved the sack of the Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Yahaya Gusau and announced Tijjani Mohammed Abdullahi as his replacement.
Gusau was appointed by Buhari in August 2015 and was expected to be in office for a period of four years, however the President reportedly sacked him over “the copy and paste budget.”
The new Director-General (Budget) is expected to work with the Minister of Budget and National Planning to efficiently deliver on the mandates of the Budget Office of the Federation. President Buhari has also approved the appointment of Ben Ifeanyi Akabueze as the Special Adviser on Planning to the Minister of Budget and National Planning. Akabueze who is the immediate past Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget in Lagos State.
President Buhari reportedly sacked the outgoing DG due to what former Charles Soludo termed “copying”, and what pundits described as the copy and paste budget. Many Nigerians on social media got the trend #budgetofcorruption trending.
The Buhari administration has been desperately trying to distance itself from the fiscal document after it was revealed that there were many smuggled items regularly used as slush funds by government officials.
The budget was also said not to have been glossed over by the Buhari cabinet, in what many are terming a technical error and a result of the President dragging his feet on the ministerial appointments.