The 2012 Appropriation bill passed by the National Assembly has finally been signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan but with many caveats and issues bothering the citizens, and even the Presidency. This budget was signed in the second quarter and ordinarily, following the Financial Year Act, the implementation should run within the 2012 fiscal year which ends in December 31st 2012.Certainly, this will no longer work!
The 2012 Appropriation bill passed by the National Assembly has finally been signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan but with many caveats and issues bothering the citizens, and even the Presidency. This budget was signed in the second quarter and ordinarily, following the Financial Year Act, the implementation should run within the 2012 fiscal year which ends in December 31st 2012.Certainly, this will no longer work!
This is of enormous concern to citizens and fiscal opinion leaders in the country who annually call for the institutionalization of international best practices in the budget process according to the laid down procedures in the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 meant to ensure that annual budgets are implemented as passed within the fiscal year.
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In an attempt to intervene in the budgetary process before its passage by the National Assembly, civil society groups made up of professional bodies like , Nigeria Economic Society (NES) Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)faith-based groups like Justice, Development and Peace Commission of the Catholic Church , the Muslim community groups and non-governmental organizations(NGOs) working on issues of public finance and the development sector, under the aegis of Citizen Wealth Platform, met in Abuja for three days reviewing the budget 2012 proposal . They raised a lot of concerns on the 2012 budget.
The increased awareness and interest in the budget of 2012 could be said to be an outcome of the controversies associated with the January 2012 hasty removal of the oil subsidy; the strikes, the whooping allocation of huge resources to frivolous programmes and projects in the budget, while majority of Nigerians languish under abject poverty.
The Nigerian people asked questions before the passage of the budget: why the proposed allocation of 921.91 billion to security should be more than three times the N282.77 billion which the government plans to spend on the health sector? Why the State House Clinic located in the Presidency that caters for the health and medical needs of a few privileged ones will in 2012 spend N1.2 billion on the improvement of its facilities, delivery room and a dog training pitch? The Civil Society groups also queried; why the National Assembly should be awarded a disaggregated statutory allocation of 150 billion naira for their work in 2012 alone? Why were several billions voted for international and local travels and for sports in sectors which core concerns have nothing to do with sports, and the malfeasance under the omnibus tag - welfare packages?
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Having raised these concerns, the group unanimously requested that N143.6billion cut be made in this year’s budget. According to the Citizens’ Wealth Platform(CWP), the N150 billion to the National Assembly should be reduced to 75 billion, the N85 billion to the National Judicial Council should be reduced to N25.5 billion, while that of general travels and transport with about N27.5 billion should be cut to N13.7 billion. The Platform after a review of the 2012 budget proposals for the purchase of computers and software acquisitions in which N5.8 billion were voted requested that it should be cut to N2.9 billion. Citizens wondered why huge resources should be devoted to travels and software acquisition on yearly basis; when computers and information technology software are not perishable items to the extent that every government office should change their computers and acquire new software on annual basis.
However, it is saddening to note that despite these civil society agitations, the National Assembly did not hearken to their call for fiscal prudence and amendments in the budgets in the direction of reduction of the amount allocated to programmes and projects that are not of genuine national priorities. This is wrong and a negation of the popular participation principle that should guide the budgetary process in a democracy. Citizens ought to have a say in the budgetary process, here in Nigeria they are shut out as if they do not matter and their welfare is not the concern of those in public office. There is need for change!
In the end, the National Assembly increased the oil benchmark from 70 dollars per barrel of crude oil to 72 dollars. And this resulted into increase of the overall budget by additional N228.4 billion by the National Assembly from the original N4.469 trillion reviewed proposal submitted by the executive arm of government to a total budget of N4. 877,209,156,933 trillion for the year 2012.
President Goodluck Jonathan delayed the signing of this budget on the grounds that the budget passed by the National Assembly was unimplementable. However after a long delay wise counsel prevailed and he signed the budget into law and made another submission to the National Assembly for review.
The President is requesting that the allocations to Universal Basic Education and the Niger-Delta Development Commission (NDDC) be increased to reflect the increment in the revenue accruing to the Federal government as a result of the increased price of the Oil benchmark by the National assembly, as it concerns appropriation to the Amnesty Programme with the most notable being the request for the increase in allocation for “reintegration of Niger Delta ex-militants from N924 million to N45.2 billion.”
The forth and back game between the Executive and the National Assembly on the 2012 budgets to the exclusion of the citizens are not in the interest of the development of the country. There is need for popular participation in form of public hearing in a challenging situation like the one presented by the 2012 budgetary proposals, before it is passed into law. The resources of the Nigerian people have been frittered away all these years because the people had erroneously viewed the budget document as belonging to those in public office and too esoteric, meant for only those who are schooled in the nuances of economics and public finance.
On the contrary, budgets and budgeting issues are every citizen’s business and such a serious matter, that it should not be left in the hands of government workers and political office holders alone. In a democracy, it behooves the ordinary people to get involved in fiscal affairs of the country because in real terms, governments have no money. The resources belong to the people and good governance has never come to any people by mere wishful thinking.
As one commends the initiatives of the Citizen Wealth Platform and urges them not to be discouraged, it is therefore expected that the National Assembly, the Executive and all those other governments agencies that have roles to play in the preparation and passage of the budget will begin to hearken to the voice of the people and reconsider their old beliefs. They now need to embrace the democratic values that call for popular participation in public finance management as the only way good governance and democracy can be ensured.
Ugo Jim-Nwoko is a Budget and Development Policy Analyst and writes from plot 17 flat 2 Yaoundé Street Wuse Zone 6 Abuja. 0805-682- 6709 [email protected]
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