Despite pressures to debt financing, President Buhari’s Administration still budgets ₦16.79 billion worth of redundancies with invisible money. Already, the 2021 budget features a 20.9% increase from the previous revised 2020 budget. And projections have the country’s debt profile at ₦35 trillion in four years.
- Newspapers and magazines to gulp ₦76.1 million in 2021
- Postage and printing budgeted for ₦114.45 million
- Purchase of duplicated items gobbling ₦12.15 billion
- Budget failed to assess the current need as it’s more of a duplication of the previous years.
Earlier, we noted how the 2021 Appropriation Bill was riddled with excesses and debt. Debt that was necessary per the Finance Minister. But besides a ₦5.2 trillion deficit, which is a 4.6% increase from the amended 2020 approved budget, something’s afoot. It’s the misplaced priorities we keep talking about. Before, it was ₦2.4 million allocation for the feeding and refreshment for the Presidency. Today, we see other frivolities that have become commonplace in Buhari’s Administration.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s growing list of loan repayment from debt servicing keeps piling. Also new to the list is reportedly the Brazilian government poised to aid “revitalise Agriculture” through “The Green Imperative”. Already Dataphyte projected a debt profile of ₦35 trillion in four years. Given the preceding, it would be logical to prioritise revenue generation and not redundancies, but alas that is not the case.
2021 Budget Proposal for Presidency
The Presidency is made up of 17 agencies amongst which are the State House HQ, State House President, Vice President and Lagos Office, NIPSS, EFCC, BPP and NEITI. The total budget proposed for the Presidency for 2021 is ₦72.9 billion. Of this figure, 47.62% was earmarked as personnel cost. Another 32.7% of the total budget is for capital projects. However, 22.9% of the total sum was proposed to be spent on superficial items.
Newspapers/Magazines
The government also saw it fit to earmark ₦76.1 million for newspapers and magazines. A breakdown analysis shows that State House HQ budgeted ₦38.5 million, which accounts for 50.5%.
Training and Travelling
Training programs are important, leading to skills acquisition. This further carries over into improving job performance and growing employees towards challenging roles. However, when funds are tight, alternative training strategies ought to be considered. This was not the case, as the Budget features a ₦3.67 billion allocation for training and travels.
Purchases and Acquisition
In other news, the presidency allocated ₦12.79 billion for various purchases. But to borrow a biblical quote, “not everything lawful is expedient,” especially in a contracted economy. Not to mention the redundancies noted with of some of these acquisitions. For instance, computer software acquisition has been a staple in the budget in previous years. But, in reality, most software need only updates. Likewise, does the government really need more vehicles, power generator sets and office furniture? Surely they can instead refurbish existing ones. Ditto allocation for construction and provision of office buildings. Rather, the government can distribute such funds to any of the lagging sectors.
Miscellaneous Expenses
The line items in this category are reminiscent of vague transactions on the government’s Open Treasury Portal. Once again, redundancies and duplication were the theme observed. For instance, why is there a special fund for printing non-security documents? Is this necessary or relevant? Should this not fall under existing budgeted sums for computer consumables? Likewise, should there be a special allocation for budget preparation as seen in line item, “Annual budget expenses”? Government already pays salaries to staff that prepare budgets and appropriation bills. It is therefore redundant to still allocate ₦11 million for this purpose. Or are the funds for something else? Who does it go to, the staff or government parastatal responsible?
Budget monotony tone trend – Need Assessment Review
Also, a close review of the budget revealed a trend of monotonous replication over the years. While projects remained relatively constant, expenses and funds increased. This begs the question, is this a needs assessment budget or annual allowance?
It is clearly the latter, as the budget has failed to identify the actual needs of the agency. Instead, we see a trend of replicating old needs (with increasing cost). It is therefore pertinent to review the budget, punching out those items to reduce the overall cost and increasing deficit burden.