PDP and APC Senators Clash Over Jonathan's Budget

The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Tuesday began debate on the 2014 Appropriation bill with members disagreeing along party lines on its passage.

While the Peoples Democratic Party senators commended the bill and called for its immediate approval, their All Progressives Congress counterparts sought its rejection and return to the Executive for a rejig.

In fact, one of the APC lawmakers, who said the bill “does not worth the paper it was written on,” called for the resignation of the Minister of Finance and the Supervising Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, because she had disappointed Nigerians.

APC senators said a budget where 2 animals in Aso Rock get more money than most Nigerians is crazy...

But to PDP senators, the appropriation bill should be passed because it would promote economic growth and add my drive to the so called Transformation Agenda of the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

Before they started making their contributions, the President of the Senate, David Mark, had enjoined them to use “national magnifying glasses to view the budget instead of reducing it to partisan politics.”

Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu of PDP, however complained that several critical projects being executed in various parts of the country were not captured in the 2014 budget.

Senator Issa Galaudu captured it clearly when he said:
“From N947bn in 1999 to N4.6 tn today, the budget has grown by over 400 per cent, but the impact has not been felt by all Nigerians. There are some bloated expenses. Even with huge security budget, every MDA has security provisions. All these make capital expenditure smaller.”

Senators Ahmed Lawan described the budget as anti-people, adding that it was packaged to further boost the economic power of politicians, senior civil servants and big businessmen who are close to the Presidency.