BudgIT, a civic organization that applies technology to intersect citizen engagement with institutional improvement, to facilitate societal change, has decried what it termed the masking and insertion of several opaque items in the 2018 budget with little or no bearing on the economy by the National Assembly.
The organisation stated in its release issued today by its Communication Lead, Abiola Afolabi that a recent analysis by it on the budget showed that approximately 6, 529 new projects valued at N579.08 billion was inserted into the 2018 budget by the National Assembly.
According to BudgIT, out of the 6,529 new projects entered into the budget, 90.6% or 5,918 items have a unit value below N200 million while such projects cannot be directly linked to the written, medium-term aspirations of the government as highlighted in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.
It stated further that an analysis of the inserted projects indicated that N63.64 billion or approximately 11 percent of the new projects added by the National Assembly would be spent on various training and capacity building programmes in 2018.
The organisation pointed out that given that the budget would be largely funded by borrowings as highlighted in the 2018 fiscal plan, it was disheartening to discover that most of the identified line items therein reflected a significant disconnect from the developmental goals of government, as stated in its Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
BudgIT expressed its worry over the number of micro-projects inserted by the Legislature that may not fall within the core scope of the government.
It stated further: “We also noticed that the new projects inserted into the budget are fragmented, and budget line items are accompanied with vague descriptions that will prove difficult to monitor or track in physical and auditing terms.
“It is equally essential for the National assembly to explain the rationale behind the increased allocations to itself as such cannot be justified given the abysmal distribution to the education and health sector, considering that National Assembly increased its budgetary allocation from N125bn to N139.5bn.
“We also observed that projects valued at N13.16bn were cancelled altogether without detailed explanation by the national assembly. Some of the critical projects removed from the 2018 budget included N200.3m meant to settle arrears under the national telephony programme, N100 million allocated for the Establishment of an ICT university and the N1.2bn allocated under the proposed budget for the construction of the Zauro polder irrigation project.
“Equally shocking is the fact that allocation to over 4,621 projects were reduced by approximately N318.89 bn without citations”, BudgIT stressed.
It, however described the addition of N55.15 billion to the health sector under the National Health Act as desirable for the nation’s healthcare system, noting that even though the amount falls short of the 1% consolidated revenue fund ( above N70bn), the allocation is a critical starting point and urged Nigerians and critical stakeholders to monitor its implementation.
BudgIT expressed believe that overall, the 2018 budget will need proper interrogation from all stakeholders, including the need essential for the National Assembly and Executive to significantly reduce the administrative component of the budget and direct funds towards improving education, health and other critical infrastructure.
This is even as it expressed hope that there will be a more in-depth interrogation of the extent of the powers of the National Assembly and how such powers are exercised with great responsibility.
