A former federal legislator, Senator Ita Enang, has said President Bola Tinubu might end up without any substantial project to present before Nigerians during the next campaign season.
The 7th National Assembly lawmaker pointed to the “low” amounts allocated to critical sectors of the economy.
Enang stated this on the Sunday edition of Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme aired on Channels Television.
As Arogidigba Global Journal had reported, Tinubu presented the 2025 budget of N49.7tn to the joint session of the National Assembly on December 18, 2024.
“I have read the budget and have gone through almost all the sectors,” the former lawmaker said.
“It is not reflective and it is incapable of giving Mr President projects to commission which he can be proud of in 2026.”
The National Assembly will resume on February 4, 2025, after the ongoing defense of the proposed budget by MDAs.
Enang, who served as Senior Special Assistant to then-President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters, faulted what he described as low revenue allocation, low revenue generation, and low revenue mobilisation in the 2025 proposed budget.
The chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, pointed out that the budget, if approved by the National Assembly and signed into law by the president without major adjustments, cannot deliver sectoral fulfillment.
According to him, if passed the way it is, it would become a problem for Tinubu’s reelection.
“The way it is, what we are having and defending at the National Assembly, if it is passed like that, it will give them a question to answer in the field of campaigns in 2026, 2027.
“I am saying that because of the minute allocations given to certain projects in certain ministries, they may not have much to show.
“Given the way some of the projects which they may need to exit or abandon due to low allocation, they may not be able to commission those projects.
“By the end of 2025, Mr president is supposed to go commission those projects but what will he commission (if they are uncompleted)?
“In most areas that we should show during the campaigns, we may not have what to show if we have this level of budgeting.
“That is why I am saying that Mr president’s team should go sectorally before they pass the budget and identify the presidential priorities,” he said.