The Case Of The Missing Budget: Twitter Reacts To News That Nigeria’s Budget Disappeared

Multiple outlets are reporting that Nigeria’s budget is missing. Nigerians are both outraged and cracking jokes on Twitter.

Multiple outlets are reporting that Nigeria’s budget is missing. What might sound at first like some arcane parliamentary problem is actually literal: Hundreds of documents on which the official 2016 budget was printed, as well as any electronic copies have disappeared from parliament where it was supposed to be discussed today.

The missing documents—which spell out about US$31bn in spending—meant the Nigerian Senate could not go ahead with debate as planned. The opposition is blaming the President who, in turn, blames it on the National Assembly. This comes amid plunging global oil prices which threaten to drain the national coffers.

According to the BBC:

President Muhammadu Buhari delivered the hard copies of his first budget to both houses at the end of last month. It detailed his plans to raise spending by 20% by borrowing heavily amid falling global oil prices. The president, who came to power last May, also pledged to improve tax collection and invest in other industries including mining and agriculture to create more jobs.

As one would expect, Nigerians are both outraged and cracking jokes on Twitter.

Oddly the funniest stuff seems to be coming from South Africans.

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