The Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze has submitted that the N27.5trn 2024 national budget is not enough to meet the actual needs of Nigeria.
He stated however that the government has to make do with it due to the need to cut the country’s coat according to its cloth and not its size.
Akabueze made the submission on Wednesday when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
He stressed that the needs of Nigeria are enormous but revenue is also limited, hence the need for Nigeria to stay within its means.
According to him, “I’m always first to acknowledge that the budget of the Federal Government of Nigeria is way too small relative to our needs and our requirements but it is now a case of cutting out coat according to our cloth rather than our size.
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“The reason this budget is this small is because our public revenues are also too small. We also need to keep the focus on that.”
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The Budget Office director general however insisted that despite the criticisms against the 2024 budget estimates, the appropriation bill caters for the poor in terms of healthcare, security, education and the economy.
Recall that President Bola Tinubu on November 29, 2023, presented his maiden budget estimates of N27.5trn for the year 2024 to the National Assembly for consideration and approval.
A breakdown of the budget estimates shows the government fixed recurrent non-debit expenditure at N9.92trn, capital expenditure at N8.73trn, debt service at N8.25trn, revenue at N18.32trn, new borrowings at N7.83trn and deficit at N9.18trn.
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