Business
Nigerians Express Displeasure Over 2010 Budget Proposals
A cross section of Nigerians last week indicated strong indifference over the 2010 budget proposals by the federal government.
The Tide learnt that President Musa Yar’Adua last week dropped copies of the N4.080 trillion to the two chambers of the National Assembly.
Yar’Adua dropped the copies of the budget proposal through Senator Abah Ajih, the National Assembly liaison officer.
Both chambers of the National Assembly have been embroiled in the supremacy battle over which chamber will host the joint sitting for the presentation of the budget.
The highlights of the budget proposals is the allocation of the sum of N1.370 trillion to roads and housing while infrastructure and education received the sum of N249.452 billion and N249.086 billion respectively.
Other sectors that received sizeable chunk of the budget proposals are Defence N232.044 billion, power N156.787 billion, Transport N1.46.736 billion while Niger Delta received N64.419 billion.
Some people, who spoke with The Tide were not excited over the 2010 budget estimates of the Federal Government.
Furthermore, others who chose to be anonymous described the figures of the budget as presented by the federal government as “mere ritual.”
Mallam Yaqub Musa, a truck driver in his views, described the budget as an empty promise on the part of government.
Musa expressed bitterness at the way the Nigerian roads have collapsed and wondered whether the ruling elites have conscience at all.
Remember when Deizene Allison Madueke, former transport minister went to inspect Benin-Ore-Shagamu road, did she not cry and apologised to Nigerians?
What has become of the same road today? Is it not in a worse state?” he said.
A welder, who refused to disclose his name, said that the government should revisit the promise of the past administration to improve power supply by making available 6,000 mega watts of electricity.
He, however, concluded that the federal government should embark on a radical approach to all sectors of the country saying that, it is the only way out and not promises.