President Muhammadu Buhari last week signed the N17.126 trillion 2022 budget into law. But that came after criticising heavily the National Assembly over what he called “worrisome changes” in the original budget estimates he submitted to the lawmakers in October, 2021. The President said the budget he signed into law contained deliberate padding as well as increase of non-critical projects by the National Assembly, in place of “critical projects” necessary for the good promises he made to Nigerians.
The President’s assent came a week after the Senate and House of Representatives approved a total expenditure of N17.126trillion as against the N16.3trillion proposed by the President. Over N700billion was added to the Appropriation Bill the NASS passed. The lawmakers also increased the oil benchmark price from $57 to $62 per barrel to reflect the oil price in the international market, even as recent oil price has witnessed an uptick of between $72 and $74 per barrel. Nigeria’s daily oil production rate is pegged at 1.89 million bpd.
In the signed budget, N869.6billion is provided as Statutory Transfer. Debt service was pegged at N3.88trillion, recurrent (non-debt) expenditure at N6.9trillion, and capital expenditure at N5.46trillion. However, some of the insertions made by the lawmakers, which President Buhari faulted, included the increase in the Federal Government’s projected independent revenue by N400billion. The president stressed that the increase was without any justification as “personnel cost provisions are based on agencies’ nominal roll and approved salaries and allowances.”
In addition, the President expressed strong reservations on the increase of N21.72billion by the lawmakers in the overhead expenditure of some government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), while the sum of N1.96billion was cut from the provision for some agencies without any cogent reason. Other alterations by the NASS include reduction in the provision for Sinking Fund to retiring Maturity Bonds by N22billion, reduction in the provision for the Non-Regular Allowances of the Nigeria Police Force and the Navy by N15billion and N5billion, respectively. Besides, the President deplored the reduction in the provision for some critical projects, among them, N12.6billion in the Ministry of Transportation budget for the ongoing rail modernisation projects, N25.8bilion from power sector reform programme under the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, N14.5billion from several projects of the Ministry of Agriculture and the insertion of over 1,500 new projects into the budget.
Also, very worrisome, according to the President, was the inclusion by the lawmakers of new provisions totalling N36.59billion for the National Assembly’s projects in the Service Wide Vote, which he said, negates the principles of separation of powers and financial autonomy of government. Provisions made for as many as 10,733 projects were reportedly reduced, while 6,576 new projects were said to have been inserted into the budget by the lawmakers.
Despite his reservations, President Buhari announced before giving his assent that he would revert to the NASS with a request for amendment as soon as it resumes this month. This, he said, has become necessary to ensure that legacy projects of his administration do not suffer setbacks as a result of lack of funds. However, the NASS, in a statement, has faulted the presidency on some of the alleged “worrisome changes,” insisting on the 6,576 extra projects introduced into the 2022 budget.
Indeed, the disagreement between the executive and the legislature, though necessary in a democracy, may hamper the effective implementation of the budget if not speedily and amicably resolved. There is no doubt that the budget can bring development if well implemented. It is disheartening that “padding,” a euphemism for unauthorised insertion of funding to projects, has become a recurring decimal in our budgeting process. It is wrong and unacceptable. Since the budget emanates from the executive, if the legislature finds it expedient to introduce new items into the budget, it must be with the consent of the executive.
It is unfortunate that over the years, federal budgets have not attained anything beyond 60 per cent implementation level. We need to break that jinx if the broad objectives of the 2022 budget will be achieved. We have sadly observed that the perennial failure of government policies is largely due to poor implementation of the national budget. Often, our fragmented planning processes do not align with our annual budget. Government should strengthen the linkage between plans and budget to ensure better results. It is not enough to have a January-December budget cycle if the implementation level is abysmally low. If the budget is faithfully implemented, it will quicken the pace of our economic recovery. In all, let the 2022 budget be fully implemented.