The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has described the 2020 Budget presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari as heavy but lacking in substance.
The coalition also announced that it was heading for the court to challenge the planned increment in the Value Added Tax, VAT, by the federal government.
In a statement issued by its spokesman, Ikenga Ugochinyere, the group said it regretted to announce to the nation that with the budget presented by the president, “the days of the nation’s suffering are not anywhere close to an end.”
The full statement
”The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), having listened critically to President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2020 Appropriation Bill as presented to the joint session of the National Assembly on Tuesday, regrets to inform Nigerians that the days of the nation’s suffering are not close to an end. The president has by today’s budget presentation shown that he has no formula to save the nation’s economy from the impending final ruins that his mismanagement has caused.
“Opposition parties see this fiscal document as an empty document that is not worth the paper on which it was written. It is full of rhetoric; Buhari’s appropriation bill can best be described as a heavy travel bag that is empty in substance or value.
“The CUPP notes that this document is a final weapon to consolidate Buhari’s next level of economic ruins, poverty, looting and visionlessness. It is a ‘come and chop’ document meant to further impoverish many and prosper the privileged few.
“The Opposition rejects the inclusion of the illegal proposed increment in VAT as part of the 2020 budget expected source of funding. This has shown that the budget is built in the sky with no serious source of funding except taxing the people to death.
“The opposition coalition has therefore resolved to head to court this week to stop the planned insensitive move to tax the suffering citizens of Nigeria to death with the proposed increment in VAT from 5% to over 7.5%.
“The president should not force the suffering citizens to bear the consequences of his leadership failure.”
