Articles

A budget destined to fail

Category: Within the nation Published on Saturday, 17 December 2011 06:00 Written by Kabir Motto Hits: 1586

On Tuesday the 13th December, 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan presented the 2012 budget estimates to the Joint Session of the National Assembly. Before the presentation, so much hype had been made and the expectations of Nigerians were that this is basically going to be the budget that the nation has been waiting for, both in terms of quantity and quality.

The expectation of most citizens was that given the manner in which the president and those around his government have so romanticized the issue of refocused public expenditure, Nigeria will see a budget that is capital-inclined and that will possibly change the focus of infrastructure and social services. We thought that what the president was to present to the parliament was a radical breakthrough from what the nation was used to.

Those who thought things could work otherwise were only proved wrong when after the presentation, the budget estimates were nothing different from what the nation was faced with in recent times. There were reasons for anxiety before the budget even for the fact that the critical issue of subsidy removal was central in the national discourse.

The thinking was that if government would remove subsidy on petroleum products, the monies that would be deployed to capital spending would sky rocket and at the end of the day if the budget is faithfully implemented, the nation would witness massive infrastructure growth which in my view would go a long way in reducing the very palpable national tension which manifests in form of social explosions across the country especially in the Northern part.

Unfortunately, it is the same old recurrent expenditure dominated budget where more than 70% of the appropriation proposals is geared towards is to service the running of government leaving only less than 30% for capital items. In every budget, capital spending determines the level of investment in infrastructure in a polity.

If the government has made sufficient public relations on withdrawal of subsidy, it was expected that a huge sum arising from the removal would have been deployed to capital expenditure. In any case, the worrisome nature of failures to implement budgetary provisions or selectively do so by the executive is dangerous and partly responsible for the current level of insecurity in the country.

The speeches by the Senate President, David Mark and Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal before and after the President’s presentation in my view captures the mood of Nigerians. We hardly have any respect for the annual ritual called budget because they hardly make any meaning to the vast majority of citizens who languish in poverty, want and deprivation. To have dramatically raised the security sector to relieve almost one trillion naira, undoubtedly the highest allocation in my view is a mark of gross irresponsibility on the part of those who take decisions on our behalf. This security approach to the resolution of social crises in  my view is a misplacement of priority and a door to wide social explosions in the country.

Why would such a large sum be allocated to security when the real causes of insecurity are not addressed? Those young boys who kill, maim and burn properties are victims of weak educational policies. The government schools I attended in the late 1960s and early 70s are not available today and the number of young people who desire education has more than doubled.

Power is still an issue after the wastage of billions of Dollars in that sector. Vulcanizers and barabers would still have to buy generating sets if they will be in business. The nation’s transport sector has collapsed. Railway transportation is nonexistent, while highways have become death traps. People die every day on our highways because the rail transport sector has since packed up, trucks and trailers have to plight the roads and the result is the constant collusion that we see where many lives are lost.

I recall General Abacha’s speech on the 31st December 1983 when they ousted President Shagari. Their argument was that everything had collapsed but crucial and prominently remembered was his remark on the nation’s health sector when he argued that ‘our hospitals have been reduced to mere consultancy clinics without water, drug or equipment’.

The nation’s hospitals have since lost the pride of being consultancy clinics. They are not even mortuaries. Nigerians who can afford go even to Ghana to treat simple ailments. Egypt and India are now tourist centers for Nigerians, all or mostly to hospitals. This is a shame and must be reversed. My thinking was that the 2012 budget will aim at addressing some of these obvious national disasters that are confronting us as a nation. Clearly, the level of insecurity today is a bye product of the long neglect of the basics. Education, job creation etc and it is my belief that the easiest way to ensure security is through the rescuing of the future of the nation’s teaming young people.

I expected that education was going to take the largest chunk in the proposal. It is investment in education that will reduce and eliminate the preponderance of militancy amongst the youth whether in the name of Boko harm or Niger Delta militancy or any other one for that matter. A hundred and fifty million strong military and police forces would not curb social crises as long as social issues are characterized by gaps. Health, agriculture and other critical sectors including national orientation are necessary areas of huge governmental investment. The 2012 budget proposals mustn’t be passed the way of the executive. I expect the National Assembly to tremendously tinker with it re prioritize it to meet the objective realities of contemporary Nigeria.

I think if the budget passes the way it is proposed, it will be another obvious failure and thus Nigerians would see no positive changes in their lives. This is unfortunate and very undeserving of a people who are blessed. God bless Nigeria.