In view of the economic challenges being experienced in the country, Cerebral Senior Advocate of Nigeria Dr. Olisa Agbakoba,
has decried continuous neglect of the poor and vulnerable people, especially in budget allocation and challenged the Federal Government (FG) to reduce cost of governance.
Agbakoba who was recently appointed to head the federal government’s Committee for the Development of National Arbitration Policy, made the call in Lagos during the monthly forum of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN).
Speaking on the topic: “Discussion with Agbakoba on 2021 budget and the economy,” the former president of the Nigerian Bar Association gave an instance of the current American budget with 50 per cent allocation to benefits.
He wondered why there is no such allocation meant for the aged, vulnerable people in the country’s budget.
The country according to him is structurally damaged and it can only be fixed by massive political and economic rejuvenation.
Talking about the recent #EndSARS protest that was hijacked by hoodlums, Agbakoba noted that the excluded poor masses exhibited a bottled resentment.
According to him, the poor has been harboring anger against the rich but they cannot hurt anybody because they know that the police are around.
“But on that fateful day when everything went down, they took advantage of it to vent their anger.
It is not enough to say that you are giving food to school children. Such programmes has to be institutionalized. If government continues to spend 40 to 60 per cent of its budget paying just one million Nigerians who are in public service, then there is in-balance,” he stated.
