Alhassan Doguwa, the congressman for the Doguwa/Tundun Wada Federal Constituency in Kano, has refuted allegations that President Bola Tinubu sent parliamentarians the 2023 budget without providing enough information.
Yusuf Galambi, a member of the opposition New Nigeria Peoples Party, claimed on BBC Hausa Friday that Tinubu’s budget presentation speech to the National Assembly on Wednesday consisted solely of an empty document.
The Gwaram Federal Constituency in Jigawa is represented by legislator Galambi, who stated, “We checked the case of the document he presented and found it empty.” This year is the first time in the National Assembly’s history that such an occurrence has occurred, and it is not in line with what the nation’s constitution prescribes.
However, Doguwa emphasized to reporters on Friday that Tinubu’s complete budget presentations had already been given to the lawmakers before he spoke at the joint session.
Doguwa disclosed, “What people are unaware of is that President Tinubu submitted a flash drive containing the entire budget prior to his presentation to the joint chambers.”
He referred to claims that lawmakers only received blank budget sheets for 2023 as “baseless” and “unfounded.”
Doguwa emphasized that Tinubu gave out hard copies of his speech in accordance with protocol, in addition to a flash drive that had soft copies of the whole appropriations bill and estimates.
The member called for an end to the presidency’s willful fabrication of information on the budget presenting exercise.
“Cease the fabrication of information; President Tinubu did not send us empty 2024 budget boxes,” he exclaimed.
