Melaye says Buhari’s expenditure framework is a fraud

Dino Melaye, a senator from Kogi west, has described the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF), which the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari presented to the national assembly as a “lie and a fraud”.

In the document, the 2017 budget was predicated on an oil benchmark of $42 per barrel, and an exchange rate of 290 per dollar.

‎Speaking on the MTEF on the floor of the upper legislative chamber on Wednesday, the legislator wondered what happened to the previous proposal which the senate passed last year.

He asked the senate to reject the proposal, and return it to the executive.

“This document is a lie. It is not truthful, and it is not transparent,” he said.

“We need to know the level of compliance of the MTEF we passed last year. Is this MTEF predicated on the loan the executive want to take? Governance is about truth, it is about opening yourself to the people. The exchange rate of 290 per dollar is a lie. This is a fraud.

“This house is the house of the people. We should not out of fear or intimidation refuse to speak the truth. This document should go back to where it came from.‎”

On November 3, Ali Ndume, senate leader, had also described the proposal as “empty”.