Former Vice President Atiku Abubarkar has warned that the country could ill afford luxuries during an austere time like the COVID 19 pandemic era.
IN a statement made available to Daily Sun yesterday, he noted that, he noted that “Nigeria cannot make up for the loss of expected revenue by taking out more loans and issuing out more bonds”, adding that “the best way out is to reduce expenditure.”
He stated: “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 Federal Government of Nigeria has only seen fit to slash our budget by a mere 0.6 per cent, from N10.594 trillion to N10.523 trillion. This represents a reduction of only N71 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. “For the avoidance of doubt, when this budget was presented to the National Assembly on Tuesday October 8, 2019, it was predicated on a projection that our nation would generate crude oil production of 2.18 million barrels a day, at an expected oil price of $57 per barrel.
“Today, that is no longer the case. Both our production, and the price of oil have been severely wwwwaffected by the corona virus pandemic, to the extent that we have unsold vessels, and our income has tanked by more than 50 per cent. “Given that this is the case, how can anyone justify a reduction in expenditure of just 0.6 per cent? 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 foreign reserves that is 12 times ours, has slashed her budget by almost 30 per cent. Ditto for other oil economies.
“Nigeria cannot make up for the loss of expected revenue by taking out more loans and issuing out more bonds. Debt will be the death of our economy and bonds will put our people in bondage.
“The best way out of this economic quagmire is to reduce our expenditure. And a 0.6% reduction is no reduction. It is only window dressing. My counsel to the Federal Government of Nigeria is this: put Nigerians first and cut your coat, not according to your size, but according to your cloth.