Buhari set to presents N6.07trillion as 2016 budget

Nigerians are both expectant and anxious, against the backdrop of challenging economic fortunes, as President Muhammadu Buhari is set to present the 2016 budget proposal to the National Assembly on Tuesday.

The N6.07trillion 2016 budget is to be presented to a joint session of the National Assembly, and will be strictly focused on the change agenda of the Buhari administration, the presidency said, yesterday.

The Federal Government had, few weeks ago, indicated that 2016 would be an economically tough and difficult year. Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, made the disclosure at the opening of the 7th Annual Bankers Committee retreat in Lagos.

She noted that Nigeria was faced with some fairly-significant micro-economic challenges that required fiscal house-keeping. “It is going to be tough and we are going to have to make extremely tough decision. We have got the resilience and space to do that,” she had said.

Giving an insight into the budget proposal yesterday, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang, said the 2016 budget would be a departure from the previous budgets, where the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) was presented to the National Assembly while the budget was being considered. He noted that it was deliberate that President Buhari had planned to lay the 2016 budget estimates before the National Assembly after the Parliament had considered and approved the MTEF.

The National Assembly had passed the MTEF on Wednesday, December 16, 2015, after which Buhari communicated that he would address the two chambers of the Parliament on Tuesday this week for the presentation of the 2016 budget proposals. According to him, MTEF is the parameter upon which the budget is determined, saying that the document would act as a guide to developing an implementable budget.

He appreciated the National Assembly for the expeditious passage of the 2016-2018 MTEF, noting that the action of the lawmakers showed that they were determined to work in collaboration with President Buhari to bring the needed change to the country.

Said he: “I appreciate the National Assembly on the expeditious passage of the MTEF and the Fiscal Strategy Paper, because it was the basis for the preparation of the 2016 budget.

“Most of you have been here for a while and you agree with me that one or two years past, we used to have a situation where the MTEF is considered and perhaps being considered while the budget is being presented but the present leadership of the National Assembly considered it appropriate to pass the MTEF and FSP before the budget is presented.

“You will agree with me that the Fiscal Responsibility Act says that it is the parameters set in the MTEF, such as the oil benchmark, exchange rate, production quota, the non-oil revenue, sources of funding the budget, sources of other fiscal items; those are the items that determine what the executive will use to prepare the budget, and it is after these were considered and passed that His Excellency, Mr. President, communicated the date, that the budget will be presented on Tuesday.”

Meanwhile, as contained in the MTEF document, the N6 trillion proposal for 2016 budget, which is yet the highest in the history of the country’s fiscal plans, is predicated on $38 per barrel oil price benchmark; N197 exchange rate and 2.2million oil production per day.

It was N4.07 trillion in 2010; N4.22 trillion in 2011; N4.74 trillion in 2012; N4.92 trillion in 2013; N4.6 trillion in 2014 and N5.06 trillion in the current year, including the N574.5 billion, recently approved supplementary budgets.

Ironically, $38 per barrel oil price benchmark is the lowest in recent times. In 2011, it was $62 per barrel; $67 in 2012; $79 in 2013; $76 in 2014 and $53 per barrel in the current year.

As a way of implementing one of its key programmes in the 2016 fiscal year, President Muhamnadu Buhari has set aside N500billion in the projected N6.07trillion 2016 budget for social welfare packages for the vulnerable in the society.

This was even as the entire budget profile is based on a deficit of N2.22trillion, on account of N3.82trillion projected as total revenues that can be raised by the Federal Government in the fiscal year.

President Buhari, in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP), already approved by the National Assembly, explained that Federal Government would collaborate with state governments in the implementation of the N500billion worth social welfare packages to the vulnerable.

According to him: “The Federal Government will collaborate with state government to institute well-structured social welfare intervention programmes such as school feeding programme initiatives, conditional cash transfer to the most vulnerable, and post-NYSC grants.

He added that these interventions would start as pilot schemes, and work towards securing the support of donor agencies and development partners in other minimize potential risks.

He, however, stressed that a phased social welfare programme would be created to cater for a larger population of the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians upon the evidence of children’s enrolment in school and evidence of immunization.

On the planned rationalization of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government, the President stated that government would adopt a three-pronged approach in the management of public financial resources by improving on revenue generation, collection, and quality spending, in a manner that would enhance transparency, accountability and results in service delivery.

“Government will, in the near to medium-term, continue to prune the size of the Federal Government and its MDAs to more efficient levels, without compromising efficiency and effectiveness. Over the medium term, however, government will revisit the need to rationalize the agencies of government and strategically implement relevant provisions.”

The President also stated, in the document, that implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA) would be fully complemented with full implementation of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) in all MDAs, which would result in additional savings.

The proposed budget, according to the President, which aims at curtailing the Federal Government’s expenditure profile, will cut down on the mounting number of claims for increases in salaries and allowances, including pensions and other benefits.

Other critical projections of the budget, as stated in the MTEF document, are N150 billion for fuel subsidy, N115 billion for the National Assembly, as against N120 billion earlier projected, proposed N29 billion for the amnesty programme in the Niger Delta and N45 billion for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Others are N77.11 billion for Universal Basic Education (UBE), N1.20 billion for the Public Complaints Commission (PCC) and human rights, etc.

The budget, as explained in the document, would have an upward review of percentage of capital expenditure from 16 per cent it was last year to 30 per cent next year, and its strategic priorities would be on human and infrastructure development with emphasis on Agriculture, Education, Health, road maintenance, security, water supply and defence.

Also speaking on the budget, yesterday in Ilorin, at his birthday ceremony, the chairman of the National Assembly and Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was committed to making lives more bearable and comfortable for the Nigerian masses.

Speaking during a special prayer to mark his 53rd birthday, Saraki said the APC-led Federal Government would continue to formulate economic policies that would be beneficial to all, and hinted that the coming year would witness realisation of lots of transformational economic policies that would be beneficial to all, even as he urged Nigerians to be patient with the Buhari administration.

According to Saraki, the Senate, under his leadership, would be committed to better socio-economic development of the country.

“As I said, the general challenging situation globally, in the country, and in the states, do not allow for celebration. We have great challenges ahead as a country. So, we have to dedicate ourselves to improving the situation for the common good,” he said.

By Newswatch