Date: 2018-12-23

The Director General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council and Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has described the 2019 budget presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari as a hopeless document.

Saraki asked Nigerians not to expect much from the appropriation bill even if it is signed.

He stated this at an interactive session between the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) on Thursday night in Abuja.

Saraki, in his opening remark, argued that the budget proposal presented by Buhari on Wednesday has no future because the statistics does not indicate the financial model by which it will be funded.

"Yesterday (Wednesday), we all heard the 2019 budget. That is a budget that has no hope for anybody because if you look at the statistics and the figures there’s poverty, if you look at the figures based on revenues that are coming in, there is nothing left. So where’s the future?

"There must be an alternative and that is what we hope that by this evening we speak to our candidate and vice presidential candidate, not based on sentiments. We are not voting on sentiments, we are voting on what is the need for you.

"How is your life going to be better? Which party offers you a better future because we see you as those who are patriotic and committed. It’s not about what you'll get today. It's about the great country a lot of you expect to see," he said.

At the event, the PDP vice presidential candidate, Peter Obi, lamented that 60 percent of the 2019 budget was dedicated to debt servicing under the APC government which he noted has surpassed what was accrued in the 16 years of the PDP-led government.