Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the presentation of the proposed 2021 National Budget aptly tagged ‘Budget of Economic Recovery and Resilience’ to a Joint Session of the 9th National Assembly on Thursday.
In a statement issued by the Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, the ruling party tasked the National Assembly on speedy passage of the budget proposal.
The party noted that considering the perseverance and continued support Nigerians have displayed in these difficult times brought by the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the crash in oil prices which affected national revenue and individual livelihoods, the tag of the budget proposal would not have been more apt.
APC equally pleaded with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), urging them to show patriotism by supporting government’s intentions on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
According to the statement; “We are confident that the 9th National Assembly will continue and consolidate its patriotic disposition by speedily considering and passing the 2021 Appropriation Bill into law to enable implementation by January 1, 2021, as canvassed by the President.
“The President Buhari administration is not oblivious of the perseverance and continued support Nigerians have displayed in these difficult times brought by the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the crash in oil prices which affected national revenue and individual livelihoods.
“Commendably, this government has not been found wanting in its resolve to cushion the biting effects on the citizenry while delivering on key policies, programmes and critical infrastructure projects, notably our ongoing national railway projects, the second Niger Bridge, among other critical projects that positively impacts our national life.
“In the face of dwindling national resources, President Buhari in his 2021 budget presentation speech has committed to intensify measures to address revenue leakages and redirect scarce resources to the poor and vulnerable through deregulation of the price of petroleum products; continued verification exercise with the IPPIS and implementation of service-based electricity tariffs,” the ruling party quipped in the statement.
While pleading with lecturers, the party appealed: “We particularly urge members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to show patriotism by supporting government’s intentions on the IPPIS which is to streamline and check incidence of payments to non-existent personnel and unauthorised allowances by enrolling in the IPPIS, ending the ongoing strike and enable our students to resume school.”