As budget 2017 is signed into law
Three weeks after the 2017 budget was sent to the Presidency by the National Assembly, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo signed it into law on Monday last week. Present at the ceremony were Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara who represented the National Assembly. Also present were other […]
Three weeks after the 2017 budget was sent to the Presidency by the National Assembly, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo signed it into law on Monday last week. Present at the ceremony were Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara who represented the National Assembly. Also present were other top officials of the government including ministers. The N7.44 trillion budget which was passed by the National Assembly represents an increase on the N7.28 trillion package that was presented by President Muhamadu Buhari to the legislature on Wednesday December 14th 2016.
Osinbajo described the signing of the budget as a milestone in the implementation of the Buhari administration’s economic agenda. He said the journey of the 2017 budget through the legislative process was less controversial than the preceding 2016 budget. According to him, “there were far fewer cases of acrimony unlike in the past. There is no doubt at all that our democracy is maturing very well”. He however hinted that the Executive may present a request for virement before the National Assembly in the course of time, due to some areas deserving of review in the approved version. Indications are that he may be referring to the increases made by the National Assembly. Credence was lent to this consideration when he later advocated that the National Assembly had no powers to introduce fresh items into the budget or amend sections of it.
Incidentally, in its unprecedented lateness lie some crucial issues that demand urgent attention. Tagged the ‘Budget of Recovery and Growth’ the package is intended to fast track this country’s exit from the biting economic recession. Such an expectation requires the expansion of the productive base of the country, through the provision of fast action policies and incentives to designated sectors of the economy, especially the nation’s informal sector, which remains the primary engine of traction for the Nigerian economy.
However with its lateness, the budget’s impact on the economy is also expected to be late as it takes at least three months after assent, for the budget cycle to impact on the economy meaningfully. The cycle under consideration refers to the implementation protocol that involves the directives from the Federal Ministry of Finance to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and reference by apex bank to the banking sector for activation of routine business activities. Having come out in June, the earliest system wide impact of the budget is expected to manifest in September 2017. This situation offers the government little room for manoeuvre especially in the light of any of its plans for quick fix solutions as contained in the recently launched Economic Reconstruction and Growth Plan (ERGP).
Yet the government can still make the best of the situation by reviewing the prospects of driving the ERGP in the context of the delayed budget, by prioritising programmes and projects for implementation. In this regard it needs to identify the most impactful of the various programmes such as the development of uninterrupted power supply. The pre-eminence of steady power in the country remains unassailable, as it will kick start the desired return to productivity by the presently idle economic resources in the country. Just well is the need to provide a wider inter-face between the public and private sectors for the promotion of harmony between them; a situation that has not been emphasised all along in the life of this administration.
It is also hoped that the administration should strive to eliminate the syndrome of late budgets from the country’s public life. Interestingly it has mooted the idea of presenting the 2018 budget to the National Assembly in October 2017. A success in that area will prove to be a welcome positive for the administration.