Labour Party (LP) 2023 presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, has said that Nigeria is not normal for budgeting N10 billion for car parks and recreational centres while voting a meagre sum of N1 billion in the 2024 Appropriation Act for hostels.
Obi said it was obvious financial recklessness and misplacement of priorities in the allocation of such funds by the federal government.
He described as unacceptable the continued deployment of public resources to nonessential areas of development.
The LP standard’s bearer highlights the poor and embarrassing position of Nigeria in the global average in school enrollment, yet the government is budgeting a paltry N1b for the construction of hostels in 12 tertiary institutions in Nigeria while N10 billion is going for the building of car parks and recreational facilities.
Writing on his X platform the former Anambra State Governor said
“As the giant of Africa which we are, I remain concerned about our fiscal indiscipline as a nation.
“Imagine the situation in our education sector where the global average of Secondary School enrollment is above 80%, while Nigeria is 28 percent.
“The global average of tertiary school enrollment is above 55 percent, while Nigeria is less than 15 percent. Yet our budget for the National Assembly car parks is N6 billion.
The budget for the National Assembly recreational facilities is N4 billion.
“Approved for the construction of hostels in 12 tertiary Institutions is just N1 billion.
“It is time for us to stop this financial indiscipline and embrace financial discipline by prioritizing the allocation of resources to the critical areas of human and national development,” he said.