A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Gudaji Kazure, has raised issues with the N1.3 trillion budget of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the 2020 fiscal year, describing it as outrageous.
The lawmaker also slammed the apex bank for disregarding a resolution of the House over implementation of the money deposit and withdrawal charges by banks, after the House advised that the policy be suspended.
Kazaure at a media briefing in Abuja on Thursday vowed to personally on the floor of the House next week, canvass for a drastic trim down of the budget. “In 2019, budget of the CBN was N420 billion, but the same CBN brought a budget of N1.3 trillion for 2020. What are they producing? Which revenue are they generating?” he queried.
He said he would persuade the House to ask his colleagues in the appropriation committee to bring down budget of the CBN to N300 million, while the balance of one trillion naira is distributed to health, education and the federal government’s N-Power social intervention programme.
“I am pleading with Mr President (Muhammadu Buhari) to ensure that resources are put into places where they will benefit our people,” he said, adding the bank charges are discouraging local people from lodging money even at their risk losing same to robbery.
Meanwhile, the Jigawa-state born lawmaker has appealed to the federal government to consider reopening land borders with neighbouring countries, even if temporarily.
According to him, the appeal became necessary in view of the challenges being faced by business men who were caught unaware with the sudden closure, while their goods were already on the way.
“Some of the consignments I have seen deal with time, because they are perishable and the goods I saw are not contrabands. Some of the business men collect loans from bank,” he said.
