Opinion I As 2018 Appropriation Bill Receives NASS' Nod

AS 2018 APPROPRIATION BILL RECEIVES NASS’ NOD

        On Wednesday, 16^th 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, 7^th 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

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