Buhari sacks budget chief after errors

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed a new director-general for the budget office, firing Yahaya Gusau only six months since he took the role, after civic groups said the 2016 spending plan was riddled with errors and provisions.

Mr Gusau has been replaced by Tijjani Abdullahi, Buhari’s office said in a statement late Monday.

The budget controversy began last month when lawmakers alleged that the original document presented by Buhari on December 22 had been substituted. The president said in a January 19 letter to lawmakers that the original document contained errors.

Buhari has proposed a record 6.1 trillion naira ($30.6 billion) budget this year to help revive an economy reeling from the impact of the low price of oil, the source of two-thirds of government revenue.

Buhari, 73, defeated Goodluck Jonathan in March in Nigeria’s first democratic transfer of power. He came to office promising to curb widespread corruption and end an Islamist militant insurgency ravaging the country’s northeast.

Africa’s largest oil producer came 136th out of 175 countries in Transparency International’s 2015 world index of countries perceived as least corrupt.