2019 Budget: Why PDP, APC lawmakers booed Buhari at National Assembly – Rep Chinda

Hon. Kingsley Chinda

A member of the House of Representatives from Rivers State, Kingsley Chinda has disclosed why lawmakers booed President Muhammadu Buhari at the National Assembly.

Chinda disclosed that Buhari’s “insincerity” during the implementation of previous budgets was one of the reasons lawmakers booed the President.

DAILY POST had reported that lawmakers booed the President as he highlighted some of the successes so far recorded by his administration.

The actions of the lawmaker made the President to remind the aggrieved lawmakers that, “The world is watching us and we are supposed to be above this.”

Speaking after Buhari’s presentation, Chinda said they had the ‘support’ of their colleagues from the ruling APC.

He said, “The presidency has not been fair to Nigerians when it comes to budget and most often they use that to blame the legislature.

“One example is, when it comes to capital releases, you will find out that they have performed very poorly.”

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, lawmaker stated that having performed so poorly, Buhari “still talks about how to turn the economy around when they have not released capital expenditures, what magic are they going to do?

“Today he told Nigerians that they have about N800 billion so far for capital expenditures as against N6.4 trillion, if you calculate that, it will give you about 16 per cent.

“What it means is that they have achieved just 16 per cent release of capital expenditures.”

Chinda pointed out that during lawmakers oversight, they discovered from some government agencies that only eight per cent of their 2018 budget was released.

“The economy cannot move with that kind of practice,” he said.

Stating that the protest was not ‘planned’, Chinda said: “The protest was not planned, it was spontaneous. This morning, people just felt there was a need for it.

“It is not just about PDP lawmakers, some of the APC lawmakers felt that because they belonged to the same political party with the president, it will not be tidy for them to come to the open.

“They are actually not happy with what is going on in the system.”

- Daily Post