By Ishaya Ibrahim
The submission of empty boxes by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the presentation of the 2024 budget proposal, has continued to generate controversy.
On Wednesday, November 29, Tinubu was said to have arrived at the National Assembly with empty boxes that were supposed to contain the 2024 budget proposal and laid it before the lawmakers.
Media reports quoted some of the lawmakers as saying, “If he (Mr Tinubu) was not ready, if the budget proposal was not ready to be presented, he shouldn’t have come and said he was done. We could have given him more time, why the haste? Why would he come and read something and even say he has kept it (document) when it’s empty,” one of the lawmakers said.
But the lawmaker representing Doguwa/Tundun Wada Federal Constituency in Kano, Alhassan Doguwa, dismissed claims that Tinubu presented an empty box that was supposed to contain the 2024 budget proposal.
Doguwa insisted that the lawmakers had received Tinubu’s full budget submissions prior to his address at the joint session.
He said: “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 said.
He described suggestions that the legislators only got empty 2024 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.
He added: “Stop the misrepresentation of facts, we did not receive empty 2024 budget boxes from President Tinubu,” he said.
