BEVERLY HILLS, February 08, (THEWILL) – President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed his readiness to welcome well-meaning criticism of its policies, its budget and expenditure from Nigerians by ordering the immediate online publishing of the proposed 2016 budget.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday, explaining that the move is necessitated by the fact that it is the only way the change promised the country will have a meaning.
He disclosed that the President has directed that the draft 2016 appropriation budget, now before both chambers of the National Assembly should be uploaded on the website of the Budget Office so that Nigerians can read it and their observations.
Shehu reasoned that with the online publication of the budget, the perceptions that the Presidency is misleading the public on any aspect of the budget will no longer stand the test of time.
Responding to a report that the President is to spend more on State House Clinic than on all federal government-owned teaching hospitals in the 2016 budget, he said that the Budget Office supplied a summary of the allocations to the various sectors under the Ministry of Health, which showed clearly that the published story was inaccurate.
According to the Presidential spokesman, “The budget office has affirmed that in terms of both capital and recurrent allocations, the draft budget has put far more money in the 17 teaching hospitals than it did in the State House Clinic.
“Having said this, we are not by any stretch of imagination suggesting that the draft budget is beyond comments or reproach. Nor do we wish to dwell on this simply to make a point. To do that will drive away good citizens from pointing out needed corrections and, ultimately defeating the change mantra of the administration.
“The budget is a Nigerian budget and citizens reserve the right to examine its content and provide their own perspectives.
“As the draft goes through the approval process, this and many other aspects will continue to generate interest, criticism, commendation and sometimes condemnation in discussions in the parliament, the media and the court of public opinion.
“We believe that the process of “change” will be affected by, and stands to gain from these debates especially where there is good faith on all sides.
“Government has no reason whatsoever to mislead the citizens on the budget and on all other matters for whatever reason,” Shehu stated
