Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has advised the Federal Government to cut cost of governance and shun luxury in order to cope with the economic downturn that comes with a pandemic.
The former vice President said the recent downward review of the 2020 budget by 0.6% was a mere window dressing as he advised the FG to sell off some Jets in the Presidential fleet and scrap the N27bn earmarked for the renovation of the National Assembly.
“It is to my consternation that despite the crash in the price of oil, and the inability of Nigeria to expand our revenue base through the non-oil sector, the FG of Nigeria has only seen fit to slash our budget by a mere 0.6%. This represents a reduction of only ₦71 billion.”
“Putting politics aside, this is grossly insufficient and betrays the fact we have lost touch with the current realities in the global political economy.”
Atiku said in a statement on Thursday, where he explained that crude oil production as well as revenue have been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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He said the 2020 budget should have been slashed by at least 25% given the present economic realities cashed by the pandemic.
How can anyone justify a reduction in expenditure of just 0.6%? We cannot be the only nation bucking the trend?
“Saudi Arabia, a nation with a much stronger production capacity than ours and with a larger global market share, as well as a foreign reserve that is 12 times ours, has slashed her budget by almost 30%. Ditto for other oil economies.
“Any budget slash that is less than 25% will not be in the interest of Nigeria.”
Atiku then went ahead to state areas where the FG should cut costs
The billions budgeted for the travels and feeding of the president and vice president has to be reduced. Sell eight or nine of the jets in the presidential air fleet.”
“Leave the salaries of civil servants alone, but reduce the salaries of political appointees.”
Atiku also advised the Federal Government not to make up for shortages in revenue by issuing bonds and taking more loans.