The implementation of this year’s budget cannot begin earlier than next month. GBADE OGUNWALE writes on the intrigues and politics surrounding the N6.07 trillion document.
SINCE the National Assembly opened debate on the N6.07 trillion 2016 Appropriation Bill, christened Budget of Change, the standing committees of the Senate have been grappling with conflicting figures in the allocations for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Owing to the discrepancies in the figures contained in the proposal, the upper legislative chamber has served a notice that the bill may not be passed earlier than next month.
The notice came shortly after an earlier assurance by the lawmakers that the bill will be passed by February 22.
The Budget of Change, the first by President Muhammadu Buhari, is generating ripples over its sloppy preparation.
There were claims that the Senate and House of Representatives were served with different versions of the bill presented by the President to the joint session of the National Assembly on December 22.
The Senate claimed it was given a version different from the one read by the President but the lower chamber said it got the authentic copy.
In the midst of the confusion, the Presidency forwarded an adjusted copy to the Senate for consideration, urging the National Assembly to work with the copy presented by the President.
The bill is predicated on a crude oil benchmark of $38 per barrel and a production estimate of 2.2 million barrels per day.
The brief summary of some of the features indicated a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Growth Rate Projection of 4.37 per cent; Revenue Projection of N3.86 trillion; Deficit of N2.22 trillion; Oil Related Revenue of N820 billion; and Non-oil Revenues of N1.45 trillion.
The budget also projected Independent Revenues of N1.51 trillion and the Capital Expenditure pegged at N1.8 trillion.
A breakdown of the budget as it relates to the various ministries are as follows: Works, Power and Housing (N433.4 billion); Transport (N202.0 billion); Special Intervention Programmes (N300 billion); Education (N369.6 billion); Defence (N294.5 billion); Health (N221.7 bilion); Ministry of Interior (N145.3 billion); Foreign & Domestic Debt Service (N1.36 trillion); Sinking Fund towards the retirement of maturing loans (N113 billion); and Non-debt Recurrent Expenditure (N2.65 trillion).
Going by official calculations, the deficit in the budget is expected to be financed by a combination of domestic borrowing of N984 billion and a foreign component of N900 billion.
Controversy broke a few days after the submission of the document and the leadership of the Senate declared the budget missing. But, the senator representing Zamfara Central Senatorial District, Kabiru Marafa, described the claim as the joke of the year.
Senator Marafa alleged that the leadership of the upper legislative chamber was only playing politics with the document, blaming the brewing controversy on those he described as “fifth columnists” acting the Senate leadership’s script.
He said: “These fifth columnists were shouting at different times that the budget was missing; the budget had been doctored; the budget was padded and that it could no longer be passed as earlier planned.
“Honestly speaking, if I am to comment on the controversy that has been trailing the 2016 Budget in the Senate, I will say it is all the work of the fifth columnists there.
“You remember we woke up one day, 15 days or so, after the receipt of the budget in the National Assembly and the Senate President just came and said there was no budget; that the budget was stolen, thus embarrassing everybody.
“But, the following day, the Speaker came out to say the budget was not stolen. Next, they said the budget was doctored; next they said it was padded; next they said there were discrepancies all over the place.
“We knew how they came into the leadership of the National Assembly or the Senate. Was it a coincidence that the issue of padding and everything just came up after the Supreme Court told Saraki to go and face your trial?
“Suddenly, we started hearing that we cannot pass the budget as we promised because there were discrepancies and so on and so forth. In a nutshell, the noise about the budget is all about the issue of corruption trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). No more, no less”.
It has been from one controversy to the other since the budget was eventually “found”. The story has since changed to allegations of padding and multiple headings in the budgetary proposals made by MDAs.
According to Senate Majority Leader Ali Ndume, owing to the conflicting and multiple sub-headings, leading to inflated figures, the appropriation bill would have to go through a surgical operation.
By Ndume’s submission, President Buhari may not need to withdraw the budget, rework it and represent a clean copy as being suggested in some quarters.
The Senate Leader said the National Assembly would do the needful by expunging every superfluous item embedded into the document.
In the course of budget defence before the standing committees, a number of extraneous items carrying huge votes have been discovered.
Defending his Ministry’s allocation, Health Minister Prof. Isaac Adewole disowned the estimate, saying it was different from what emanated from the ministry.
Inflation of figures was also discovered in the estimates of many other MDAs.
Although the discrepancies have caused a lot of embarrassment, particularly for the Presidency, observers say there is nothing strange in the discovered loopholes.
They argue that padding of budgets has been a regular practice in budgeting over the years.
In the past, they say, the MDAs would simply “negotiate” terms with the relevant committees, with the view to passing the figures as presented.
An observer said: “In some instances, the negotiations involved inflating the figures based on mutual understanding between the MDAs and committee members. The difference between the actual figures and the inflated outcome would then be shared.”
“In times past, some committees used to insist on having their share of the excess budgeting upfront. But, circumstances have forced the lawmakers to be wary of dealing with the MDAs the way they used to deal with them in the past.”
Anti-corruption crusade,
seperation of power
It was learnt that the ongoing war being waged against corruption by the Buhari administration has compelled lawmakers to scrutinise the budget without demanding for gratification.
Another observer said: “The fear that heads of the MDAs could expose any demand for gratification may have forced the legislators to be on their guard.
“Besides the new-found institutional independence, members of the National Assembly are mindful of the anti-graft posture of the present administration.
“The fact that both Senate President Bukola Saraki and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, are standing trial for alleged cases of corruption and forgery is enough deterrent.”
The strident calls by various segments of the society on the National Assembly for openness and transparency in the legislature’s votes, have also put the lawmakers on the edge.
Unlike its previous fixed budget of N150 billion annually, the National Assembly’s vote in this year’s appropriation has been pegged at N115 billion.
Not a few Nigerians have demanded from the leadership a breakdown of the N115 billion budget for public consumption and scrutiny.
Budget Mafia
Until the President wielded the big stick against the Director-General, Budget Office, Yahaya Gusau, some faceless officials in the Budget Office remained untamed.
Gusau’s sack came in the wake of widespread irregularities detected in the 2016 Budget presently under consideration by the National Assembly.
The faceless officials known as Budget Mafia, have been operating within the comfort of the Budget Office. Going by the reports on the budgets and counter claims from the MDAs, discrepancies in the budgetary figures emanated from the Budget Office. Despite the deafening public outcry over the scandal, the Budget Office did not offer any explanation.
Tijani Abdullahi, who was named by the President to replace Gusau, has a mandate to overhaul the budget office. He has been asked to beef up budget surveillance. Besides the change of guard, the President announced the appointment of Ben Akabueze, a one-time Lagos State Commissioner for Budget and Planning, as Special Adviser on Budget and National Planning.
Budget passage delay
inevitable
The Senate committees have continued to detect strange insertions in budget estimates of the MDAs. These discoveries may delay the passage of the budget far beyond March as the Senate leadership has vowed to do a thorough job on the document to give the country a clean budget at the end of the day.
Political opponents have tagged the 2016 Appropriation Bill as budget of corruption; budget of shame and budget of errors. Some have even called for its withdrawal with the view to correcting the observed errors before representing it afresh for consideration.
Besides, internal wrangling arising from discontent in the choice of leadership may further hamper a smooth sail for the budget even as standing committees continue to work on budgetary proposals of the MDAs.
Perhaps, the major obstacle in the way of the Appropriation Bill is the dwindling oil prices in the international market. The budget is premised on $38 per barrel benchmark, the current oil price has fallen to $30. The implementation of the budget may be hampered by the shrinking national economy and the prevalent liquidity squeeze.
The government is banking on short and long-term borrowing from local and foreign sources, to finance the Budget of Change.
Analysts are of the view that diversification of the economy and frugality in government spending would help in cutting wastage in the system.
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