NORTHERN members of the National Assembly, have been called upon,not to allow the issue of alleged Budget padding cause disunity or rancour that would hinder their efforts to pave the way for striving for execution of developmental projects in the entire region.
The call was made by a chieftain of the ruling All Progressive Congress( APC) in Kano state, Alhaji (Dr.)Ilyasu Musa Kwankwaso,while speaking with Journalists on Sunday in Kano.
He noted that the present leadership of the country, headed by President Bola Ahmed Tibubu means well for the 19 Northern states.
He stressed that, “but all these can only be achieved if our lawmakers were united and shun any act capable of breeding hatred amongst themselves.”
Dr Kwankwaso, who was a three time Kano state Commissioner for Rural and Community Development, disclosed that the people of the 19 Northern States are looking up to.their members in both the Red and Green Chambers on how they would address myriad of challenges facing them.
He however noted that the issue of alleged budget padding,which was yet to be confirmed as true, need to be verified appropriately.
According to him,the question people are asking is, where were the lawmakers when the purported budget was been padded and lawmakers could not raised such discrepancies either at the plenary or at their collective sitting of caucus .
While commenting on the hardship Nigerians are presently facing ,Hon.Kwankwaso, said,before the fuel subsidy ,especially, the Kano state government received the sum of N10 billion and N12 billion during the tenure of former Governor, Dr.Abdullahi Umar Ganduje .
He also said that, it was on this amount of money ,the state salary of over N8 billion were been paid.
He then asked, now that the state government headed by Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf,is now receiving over N20 billion but still paying the same N8 billion as salary to workers .
The question is ,where is the over N13 billion received by by the state government after the fuel subsidy removal were been diverted to.
He added that this N13 billion is supposed to be directed to alleviating the myriad of economic challenges the people are facing.
Kwankwaso then hinted that, President Tinubu ,has embarked on execution of various projects across the North ,especially the completion of the Abuja- Kaduna road and Kano expressway.
He also said that major improvement is now ongoing on railway in major towns and cities in the Northern part of the country.
He further disclosed that the federal government recently approved N2 billion to other states of the federation, while a sum.of N3 billion was given as loan to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy .
Kwankwaso added that President Tinubu also has rolled out large number of trucks loaded with grain, which include millet,rice beans and other food stuff ,while some states do not do accordingly.
He then called on the citizens of the country to rally round President Tinubu in his move to take the nation to a greater height,because most of the problems been faced were carry over from previous governments and needed a lot of patience to be fixed.
Kwankwaso however added that, ” We should give the present government headed by President Tinubu enough time to tackle the country’s problems noting that with the collective and concerted efforts of all Nigerians, the nation would achieve a lot.