AS 2018 APPROPRIATION
BILL RECEIVES NASS’ NOD
On
Wednesday, 16th May 2018, in its plenary, members of the Upper
Chamber of the National Assembly (NASS) unanimously passed the 2018 Appropriation
Bill into law.
The bill was presented in Tuesday, 7th
November 2017 by President Muhammadu Buhari before the joint session of the two
Chambers of the NASS. In the bill, the 2018 budget was estimated to be serviced
with about N8.6trn fund.
However, after all keen deliberations
by the NASS’ Appropriation committees, the estimated sum of the proposed budget
was upwardly reviewed, reportedly owing to variations in market survey as well
as change in the oil benchmark suggested by the Executive Arm. As a result of
the review, the budget was passed for N9.1trn.
It was gathered that the oil benchmark, which
was initially placed at $45 per barrel, was inflated to $51/barrel. It’s
noteworthy that the crude oil is currently sold at about $80 per barrel as
against $63 which was its price as at the fourth quarter (Q4) of last year when
the bill was presented.
Similarly,
it’s not anymore news that there’s an astronomical inflation presently
witnessed in the country. It suffices to say that the increase in the budget’s
figure wasn’t unconnected with these developments as was revealed by the
Senate.
If
the budget was influenced due to the aforementioned parameters, then the NASS
doesn’t unequivocally deserve an accolade. Going by the presentation, the
proposed budget, if eventually assented to, shall as usual be mainly serviced
by oil revenue and taxation.
If there’s an obvious increase in the oil
price, is there any assurance that the price of the said commodity will
continually soar? In other words, that the oil is being sold at over $70 today
does not imply that it cannot depreciate to a mere $40 tomorrow considering the
present situation experienced in the petroleum sector.
In the same vein, since taxation would be one
of the major sources of financing the budget, I expected the lawmakers to have
understood that most established corporate bodies in Nigeria are at the moment
undergoing liquidation, thereby warranting their extinction. So, if most of
these firms perished within the fiscal year in question, what then becomes the
fate of the budget?
I’m glad the legislators testified that
there’s an ongoing soaring of the prices of goods and services in the country.
This alone, signifies that the amount inflated in the total cost of the
proposed budget might not even be enough to cater for its full implementation
in the long run.
Of course, since inflation is now
occurring on an astronomical basis, the prices of the commodities captured in
the budget may be multiplied by three or thereabouts before the 2018 fiscal
year fades out.
Hence, rather than increasing the budget
by 6 per cent resulting in an additional N508.3bn, which is over half a
trillion naira, the NASS would have judiciously thought of reducing the degree
of projects enshrined in the proposed budget, especially when realized that we
still have over N2trn debt to be serviced and about N1.95trn deficit as
captured in the appropriation bill.
The bitter truth is that the additional
figure, which is enough to service the annual budgets of over five states in
Nigeria, may end up causing more harm to the economy than good because it is
apparently unrealistic.
On
the other hand, it’s clear that the expected increase in the workers’ minimum
wage wasn’t captured in the 2018 budget. This implies that there’s likely to be
a supplementary budget in the future, because virement would definitely not be
an alternative.
In view of the anticipated additional
fund in the recurrent expenditure, Nigeria that’s currently struggling to
overcome numerous economic challenges might end up having over N10trn as her
annual budget. This indeed smacks of danger for the epileptic economy.
More so, acknowledging that a budget proposal
tendered by the executive was passed by the NASS six months after is enough
reason to exercise worry. Such an attitude, which has abruptly become a
tradition, invariably triggers mixed feelings among patriotic Nigerians.
We aren’t unaware that tremendous
deliberations cum interrogations are involved towards passing an appropriation
bill, but it’s imperative for the lawmakers to acknowledge that a budget is the
basis of any governance, hence the need to take such consignment more
seriously.
The Presidency, on its part, ought to be
presenting the appropriation bill at most before the end of the third quarter
(Q3) of the year preceding the affected fiscal year, so that, at worst the
budget would be passed in the first quarter (Q1) of the concerned fiscal year.
Most
pathetically, it is a shame that there was a downward review of the proposed
capital spending in the education sector. The figure was reduced from N61.73bn
to N15.7bn, but the Senate claimed that the inflated fund was spread across the
key sectors in the budget. How do we reconcile this?
As we ‘applaud’ the NASS for passing a
budget of almost N2trn deficit, the Presidency needn’t be told that there ought
to be an extensive review before assenting it. Think about it!
Comrade Fred Nwaozor
National Coordinator, Right Thinkers
_________________________
frednwaozor@gmail.com
+2348028608056
Twitter: @mediambassador
