By Dayo Omoogun
In a swift and upbeat reaction, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has hailed President Muhammadu Buhari’s presentation of the proposed 2021 National Budget
which according to the party is aptly tagged ‘Budget of Economic Recovery and Resilience’ to a Joint Session of the 9th National Assembly on Thursday.
The party expressed confidence that the 9th National Assembly will continue and consolidate its patriotic disposition by speedily considering and passing the 2021 Appropriation Bill into law to enable implementation by 1st January 2021, as canvassed by the President.
Nabena said “The President Buhari administration is not oblivious of the perseverance and continued support Nigerians have displayed in these difficult times brought by the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the crash in oil prices which affected national revenue and individual livelihoods.
“Commendably, this government has not been found wanting in its resolve to cushion the biting effects on the citizenry while delivering on key policies, programmes and critical infrastructure projects, notably our ongoing national railway projects, the second Niger Bridge, among other critical projects that positively impact our national life.
“In the face of dwindling national resources, President Buhari in his 2021 budget presentation speech has committed to intensifying measures to address revenue leakages and redirect scarce resources to the poor and vulnerable through deregulation of the price of petroleum products; continued verification exercise with the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and implementation of service-based electricity tariffs.
The party, therefore, used the opportunity to appeal to members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to show patriotism by supporting government’s intentions on the IPPIS which is to streamline and check the incidence of payments to non-existent personnel and unauthorised allowances by enrolling in the IPPIS, ending the ongoing strike and enable our students to resume school.
The President made the presentation to the National Assembly earlier today Thursday.