In the spirit of early presentation, early approval and early and full implementation, President Muhammadu Buhari has presented the 2021 national budget to a joint session of the National Assembly Thursday morning. And, seeing that the budget highlights the Federal Government’s consistent leaning towards wastage, Nigerians are already speaking out.

Let's reduce cost of governance but NO. Peep how much was allocated to the National Assembly in the 2021 budget estimates.

•NNPC = 29.7bn
•NJC = N110bn
•UBEC = N70.05bn
•INEC = N40bn
•NASS = N128bn
•PCC = N5.2bn
•NHRC = N3bn
•Basic Health = N35.03bn#FGNBudget2021

— Wale Adetona (@iSlimfit) October 8, 2020

While he read out how the government planned to allocate ₦13.08 trillion, he hesitated when he got to the budget for the National Assembly. He and the members of the joint national assembly laughed heartily before Buhari went ahead to announce that ₦124 billion would be allocated to national assembly alone.

President Muhammadu Buhari pauses as he reads the proposed 2021 allocation for the National Assembly.#CTVLiveTweets#Budget2021 pic.twitter.com/fUARChd7R5

— Channels Television (@channelstv) October 8, 2020

And, it’s another year but same backward decisions that indicate the government will rather focus on enabling the lavish lifestyles of the Assembly members, than paying attention to other underfunded sectors.

Talk about ₦34 billion for health care meant for over 200 million people.

N128 Billion for the National Assembly alone.

You see why people see politics as a lucrative career and not a platform of transformational leadership.

Let me see the Nigerian lawmaker that will oppose these figures ? pic.twitter.com/T7TWng3BIJ

— Benkingsley Nwashara (@Benking452) October 8, 2020

To put things in context, if you walked up to your employer to demand a raise, you must present him/her with a viable reason backed up with facts why you deserve a raise. You just don’t walk into a company and demand the fattest paycheck, you earn it.

But here we are, with a deteriorating economy, high level of insecurity, a snowballing national debt, and a general dissatisfaction from a people listed to be the poorest in the world. And, amidst all these crises, the government believes that allocating N124 billion to the national assembly is the best use of national funds.

After the announcement, Nigerians on Twitter found it hard to process the news. It was another reason to be outraged and could potentially inspire a movement similar to what we are seeing with the #endsars protest.

Dear Nigerians, we will fix Nigerias problems one after the other.
When we are done with police brutality, we need to face "the national assembly"

Cc @segalink @iRuntown@falzthebahdguy @citizen_gavel @SIAF_NG #CTVLiveTweets #EndSARSProtest#Budget2021 pic.twitter.com/3lBz2a1lgk

— RUGGEDMAN (@RuggedyBaba) October 8, 2020

It's happening people… let's normalise protest. Voting and protesting are part of democracy. And they are part of the major weapons to send messages to these rulers. Our voices can be heard via voting or protest. National Assembly, expect us soon https://t.co/jQjvGi2nkg

— Dare (@dare2805) October 8, 2020