Barely 24 hours after Minister of Finance, and coordinating Minister of the economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala blew the whistle, alleging that some strange projects were miraculously sneaked into the 2011 budget, President Goodluck Jonathan has said that the country is suffering from poor budgeting system.
Jonathan made this remark when he received a delegation of the South-East led by former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa.
He said, “We have poor budgeting, but luckily, the Deputy Senate President (David Mark) and the Deputy Speaker (Ike Ekweremadu) are here with us. This time around, we want to work with the National Assembly so that we have planned budgets. The way we do the budgeting so far does not really give the federal government enough funds to intervene in these areas.”
“That is one of the reasons for the concept of economic team that Okonjo-Iweala is coordinating. All these, including health education would be properly managed. Even when I was operating at the state level, I remember that the federal government then use to give refunds when some roads are constructed, but some were not given.”
Earlier, Chairman of South-East Governor’s Forum, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, had told the President that the Igbo delegation had come to present some problems hampering development in the zone, among which is the poor condition of the River Niger Bridge.