Tinubu submitted flash drive containing budget details, Rep counters colleague

The lawmaker representing Doguwa/Tundun Wada Federal Constituency in Kano, Alhassan Doguwa, has dismissed claims that President Bola Tinubu presented the 2023 budget to lawmakers without sufficient details.

A member of the opposition New Nigeria Peoples Party, Yusuf Galambi, alleged on BBC Hausa Friday that Tinubu only provided an empty document during his Wednesday budget presentation speech before the National Assembly.

Galambi, the lawmaker who represents the Gwaram Federal Constituency in Jigawa said, “We checked the case of the document he presented and found it empty. In the history of the National Assembly, such an incident has never happened until this year and this is not what the constitution of the country said should be done.”

But addressing journalists Friday, Doguwa insisted that the lawmakers had received Tinubu’s full budget submissions prior to his address at the joint session.

“What people don’t know is that President Tinubu had since submitted a flash drive of the whole budget before his presentation to the joint chambers,” Doguwa revealed.

He described suggestions that the legislators only got empty 2023 budget documents as “baseless” and “unfounded.”

Doguwa clarified that as customary, Tinubu provided hard copies of his speech along with the flash drive containing soft copies of the full appropriation bill and estimates.

The lawmaker urged stopping the deliberate misrepresentation of facts regarding the budget presentation exercise by the presidency.

“Stop the misrepresentation of facts, we did not receive empty 2024 budget boxes from President Tinubu,” he said.