Alleged budget padding: Peter Obi advocates immediate review of 2024 budget

Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, has called for a total review of the 2024 budget.

He made this known in a statement on his official X handle on Monday.

Obi advised that the nation’s resources should adequately be appropriated to critical areas like security, fighting poverty and solving the challenges of hunger and food insecurity, power supply, considering the current economic situation of the country.

He also decried the recent increase in violent crimes and killings occurring in every part of the country, stating that the increased crime rate has made Nigeria one of the world’s riskiest countries to live in.

“In the past 1 year, about 7000 Nigerians have been kidnapped, with about 700 kidnapped in the last 3 weeks, notwithstanding the violent crimes and killings that occur in every part of the nation, which must have included us in one of the world’s riskiest countries to live in,” he wrote.

The former Anambra governor further expressed concern about the high cost of food and the epileptic power supply in the country.

“We have become one of the hungriest nations in the world and one of the most difficult nations in the world to live in, with food prices constantly going out of the reach of most Nigerians.

“Power supply is abysmally poor and Nigerians are now mostly in total darkness,as over 60% are without power supply.

“Even those in perceived privileged areas now go for days without power supply”, he wrote.

He however, urged the executive and legislative arms to consider the many challenges facing the nation and re-allocate resources to these very critical areas.