A former federal lawmaker, Senator Dino Melaye, has criticized Nigeria’s budgeting system, which he described as an avenue used to defraud the country and enrich a selected group of people.
Melaye, who represented Kogi West Senatorial District in the Red Chamber of the Nation’s Assembly, asserted that the country’s budgeting system has been used to enrich a few elected principal officers through manipulation of budget numbers.
The former lawmaker made these assertions in a statement made available to journalists during the week.
He urged the incumbent Senate to salvage the nation from massive corruption bedevilling the economy.
According to Melaye, the latest budget by the incumbent government will be the highest-ever budgetary allocation to the National Assembly, whose initial allocation in the 2024 budget proposal was pegged at N197.93 billion.
The Senator explained that on an x-ray of some of the budget, it appears that they have no national significance but an avenue to syphon public funds.
Melaye further argued that the new legislative budget is more than what the National Assembly received between 2011 and 2014.
He further expressed concerns that the Nigerian people have observed a stark contrast in this administration.
While ordinary citizens bear the burden of reform initiatives such as fuel subsidy removal and the merging of exchange rates, President Bola Tinubu’s leadership has excessively favoured lawmakers.
