Enang faults FG for using 2025 revenue to fund 2024 budget

Ita Enang, a former presidential adviser, on Wednesday in Abuja, criticised the Federal Government for implementing the 2024 budget with revenue generated in 2025.

Enang, who represented Akwa Ibom North East in the seventh Senate, spoke with journalists covering the Senate,  said it was wrong for the government to fund 2024 projects with 2025 revenue, noting that such projects should have been rolled over into the new fiscal year.

“Nothing is wrong with borrowing to fund budgets, but the only error is using the 2025 budget to fund 2024 projects.

“Each year’s revenue should fund that year’s expenditure.

“Projects not completed in 2024 should have been rolled over and captured in the 2025 budgetary provisions,” he said.

He added that although the government’s borrowing to fund budget deficits was anticipated in the Appropriation Act, the implementation timeline and revenue sources should align within the same fiscal year.

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“The reality is that the Federal Government does not have enough money to fund its responsibilities, which is why it borrows to finance deficits.

“But the year of budget implementation and revenue generation should be the same, not what we have now. where the capital component of the 2024 budget is being implemented with 2025 revenue,” Enang said.

He also commented on the wave of defections across political parties, stating that any lawmaker who defects without a recognised division in their party automatically loses their seat in accordance with the Constitution.

“The Constitution is clear: if there is no court-declared division and you leave your party, you lose your seat, whether it is formally declared vacant or not.

“The Supreme Court has also affirmed that such defectors must refund all salaries and allowances collected after defection,” he stated.

Enang further said that Nigeria’s political system was not becoming a one-party state through the actions of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) or President Bola Tinubu’s administration, but due to the failure of opposition parties to function as strong institutions.

“Nigeria is not becoming a one-party state by any machination of the APC or the Tinubu administration.

“It is happening because other political parties have failed to survive as true institutions,” he said.