ANPP Takes On Jonathan On New Presidential Banquet Hall

Plans by the Federal Government to build a new banquet hall in the Presidential Villa has been faulted by the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP)

In a press release signed by Emma Eneukwu, the party’s national Publicity Secretary, the ANPP described as absurd plans by President Jonathan to build a new banquet hall at the sum of N2.2 billion naira.

The party wondered why such a project that will gulp such amount of money will be embarked upon in the face of economic hardship facing the nation.

The Statement reads in part ‘ How else can one view this new building project against the backdrop of the words of President Jonathan last year at the inauguration of the National Economic Council (NEC) when he told his country men and women to brace up for some level of hardships as he implements his administration’s transformation agenda. He was quoted as saying that any meaningful transformation or reformation goes with some form of inconveniences, which are temporary’

The ANPP regretted that Mr. President has contradicted himself by his words, an act which shows his incompetence to lead the nation in these trying times, stating that the party wonder why he cannot endure the little distance between his office and the presidential banquet hall, built in 2003 and constantly renovated

The party also chided the Federal Government on the advice of the CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who advised the President to fire half of the Civil Service workforce in order to save cost.

‘ We wonder which one is a better strategy to save money for the federation, taking away  food from the mouths of Nigerian workers and their families or taking away frivolous services and needless projects from the budget like the new banquet hall by the government’ he said.

The opposition party also called on the National Assembly to amend the Constitution in order to legally mandate the Code of Conduct Bureau to disclose the declared assets of President Jonathan and other public officers, considering that the Chairman of the Bureau, Mr Sam Saba recently blamed the Bureau’s inability to publicly reveal the assets declared by the President and others on constitutional constraints.

‘We believe that this is in the interest of the nation as public declaration of assets of the number one citizen will go a long way in regaining the fast – waning confidence of the people on the leadership of the country.