Timi Frank, a political activist, has urged Nigerians to be prepared for tough times ahead of 2020 budget circle, describing the appropriation bill presented to the National Assembly (NASS) by President Muhammadu Buhari as a scam.
Frank, former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in a statement he issued on Thursday, said that after a careful study of the content of the fiscal document, he discovered that what Buhari submitted to the National Assembly (NASS) showed that not only would Nigerians be heavily taxed, fuel subsidy would be completely removed, while social investment programme would cease to exist, stressing that there was nothing in stock for the common man.
The activist said Nigerians should observe that since the APC administration in 2015, national budgets had increased annually, without concomitant positive effects on the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
He challenged the National Assembly under the leadership of Sen. Ahmed Lawan and Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila to tell Nigerians the implementation level of the 2019 budget, maintaining that the current legislature would rubber stamp the 2020 budget as presented without asking necessary questions expected of a functioning and independent arm of government.
“After careful study, I have concluded that this 2020 budget is more or less a scam. It is not meant to rescue Nigerians from the current economic hardship that has sent more than 94 million Nigerians to below poverty line.
“It is a document without fuel subsidy, social investment scheme, but a very high level of taxes. I urge Nigerians to prepare for the worst. Unfortunately, the country will miss the 8th National Assembly under Senator Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara, who resisted many anti-people policies which would have scaled through against the express wish of Nigerians.
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“Under the current NASS, it will most definitely be a ‘yes sir’ kind of National Assembly,” Frank said.
While, challenging President Buhari on the effect his previous budgets had on Nigerians, Frank asked the presidency to tell the world why the country did not have a new refinery since the partial removal of fuel subsidy by the administration and what had happened with the recovered loot since 2015.
He stressed that since the partial removal of fuel subsidy, the APC’s government had not stopped borrowing money both locally and internationally to fund yearly budgets just as Nigerians were yet to see the new refinery promised by government.
The political activist said that the proposed 7.5 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) to fund education, health and infrastructure was another bogus tactics by the APC’s government to further compound the hardship of suffering citizens.
He urged Nigerians to be strong and endure the times, saying that those who were used for the re-election of the APC administration in 2019 were already regretting their actions and participation secretly.
