The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) has stated that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) must stop the irresponsible profligacy that could make the country and its people become indentured slaves.
The warning was gave by the party’s National Chairman, Mallam Falalu Bello, OFR in a media dialogue organized by the party in Abuja on Tuesday, 3rd day of December, 2019.
The party also condemned the decrease in Capital Expenditure proposed in the budget by as much as 22.65% from N3.184 trillion in 2019 to 2.46 trillion in 2020.
“There is no way the nation will grow with Capital Estimates attracting only 24% of the Budget and Recurrent Estimates gulping as much as 76%. Looking into the Budget closely, one can see that the wage Bill of the Public Sector alone will gulp N3.6 trillion of the total Budget of N10.33trillion. This certainly is unacceptable and must be reversed if the Nation is to grow.
“When it came into office in 2015, the government inherited a debt burden of just Ten Billion Dollars ($10billion). Today our country’s debt exposure has spiraled up to about eighty four billion dollars ($84billion). Yet there is hardly anything on the ground to show for this staggering debt profile. This irresponsible profligacy must stop before our Country and its present and future generations become indentured slaves. Already debt servicing is costing us almost half the Budget with nothing left for development.” He said.
Bello also urged the Federal Government of Nigeria to:
“Stop the Foreign Exchange subsidy that benefits only a very few at the expense of the Nation. Multiple Exchange Rates of N305.00 to a $ for government business; N345.00 to a $ for the Interbank Market; and N345.00 to a $ at the Import and Export window benefit only a few and deprives the Federal, States and Local Governments of much needed revenue. The President should order the merger of these rates to increase revenues to the 3 tiers of Government and eliminate the arbitrage benefitting only the corrupt in the system.
“Stop the fraud in the Fuel Subsidy regime which the APC Government and President Muhammadu Buhari have promised to stop during their electioneering campaigns. Mr. President Sir, the petroleum subsidy fraud you have identified and promised to stop is continuing and has even become bigger and need be brought to an end.” He added.
