Budget presentation and public expectation

Given its antecedents, it should not be asking for too much to expect that the Presidency would use its implementation to shift focus in line with the expectations of the public. That means that government should focus less on meaningless and unhelpful excuses and more on deliverables and their actualisation.Needless to state, the 2014 budget […]

Given its antecedents, it should not be asking for too much to expect that the Presidency would use its implementation to shift focus in line with the expectations of the public. That means that government should focus less on meaningless and unhelpful excuses and more on deliverables and their actualisation.
Needless to state, the 2014 budget proposals come with many challenges. Hence, while the nation awaits members of the National Assembly to return from their recess shortly to address the budget’s nitty-gritty, the state of the Nigerian economy dictates early and speedy attention. For instance, some of the factors that accentuate the significance and symbolism of the 2014 budget include the fact that it is the last full year budget for the Goodluck Jonathan administration before the 2015 general elections. Secondly, the year is also the penultimate one before the expiration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) deadline, which qualifies it as a stock-taking period when the progress made so far by the country should be appraised. Hence, more than any other one, the budget offers the administration the opportunity to get its act together, before opting to bury itself in politics of the 2015 elections.
It is against such background that the 2014 budget is coming with anticipated, perhaps unpalatable, portends of tight fiscal policy, debt overhang as well as the almost inevitable increase in demand for overhead payments to accommodate sundry interests, including pensions. Adding to the burden of the budget is also the issue of diminishing revenue due to widespread oil theft and leakages in government treasury, particularly the enduring problem of questionable remittances of earned petroleum proceeds, as was recently exposed in some key government agencies in the oil and gas sector.
Without doubt, the play out of a combination of the foregoing factors presents both a daunting challenge and huge opportunity to any administration, especially in the context of the high expectations of Nigerians for speedy drawdown of the so-called democracy dividends that politicians are wont to promise, though they often don’t deliver. This is why a proactive approach, driven by creative thinking, remains the only path to success in implementing the 2014 budget.
In this regard, the role of the National Assembly with respect to a speedy passage of the budget is critical. As the elected representatives of the people it is expected of them to place public interest above their narrow personal gains, in considering the budget for passage. The budget passage exercise provides the perfect framework for executive-legislature collaboration in public service delivery. Given some of the titbits out of the budget proposals that have come to light, some of the provisions downright idiotic, others the usual attempt at padding to maximise personal gains, the National Assembly should see itself as being part and parcel of the successes and failures of the government, including the final status of the 2014 budget estimates.
Their intervention therefore should be guided by the need to predispose the budget as a catalyst for propelling the economy to a higher level of performance. Although the budget was presented late with the possibility of a loss of half of 2014 in wait for its touchdown on the economy, that excuse should not serve as the basis for keeping it longer than absolutely necessary in the legislature, under whatever guise. Already, the 2014-2016 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Fiscal Strategy Plan (FSP), which preceded the budget, have already been passed by the legislature. Therefore passing the budget, which is based on those instruments, is vital.
Just as vital would be the full implementation of provisions of the budget once it becomes law so that all sectors of the economy could enjoy a better deal than has been the case in the recent past.