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The Zero Development Budget Ritual of the
Nigerian Government
_________________________________________________________
By Leonard Karshima Shilgba
Monday, Jan 07, 2013
Copyrights © 2007  All Rights Reserved African Examiner Online is owned by RD Frontline LLC, a state of Maryland registered company
P. O. Box 11582 Baltimore, Maryland, 21229, USA Tel: 443-904-1239. Editor-In-Chief: Oludare Sunday Fase
___________________________________________________________________________________
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In 2013, the sum of N 4.987 trillion shall be spent by the federal
government of Nigeria. The capital expenditure is a paltry N 1.6
trillion, which is 32 per cent of the entire budget. But more worrisome
is the established tradition of woeful implementation of budgets by
the PDP governments since 2007. If the capital component of
budgets in Nigeria was prudently implemented the country would
have efficient public development infrastructure such as roads,
railways, electricity, water supply networks, refineries, etc., which
could drive down the cost of production, expand capacity utilization of
manufacturing industries, preserve life, and reduce unemployment
rate. The Nigerian on the street finds nothing or little to cheer in the
yearly rituals.

There is a trend that must be pointed out. The Nigerian legislature
has joined the choir of national lamentation rather than check the
excesses, impunity, and negligence of the executive. The lawmakers
do not presently retain the respect of President Jonathan and his
government. The resolutions or motions of either the senate or
House of Representatives are treated with disdain. They have been
referred to as “mere opinions” by the presidency without any
sanctions. The threats by the national assembly have turned out to
be just pitiable bluffs. They had demanded 100 per cent
implementation of the 2012 budget by September, 2012 or some
sanctions would be delivered by it on the executive. Besides being
unreasonable to demand 100 per cent implementation of a budget
only in the third quarter of a year and when the commencement of
implementation was supposedly in the second quarter of the same
year, the national assembly ridiculed itself again as that deadline
came and passed without as much as a whimper from that
supposedly august body of serious lawmakers. The Nigerian people
have spent so much of their resources and expectations on the
national assembly with nothing to show for it. They have become an
assembly of weaklings whose words mean nothing.

There is no democracy without an effective and productive
legislature. What victories has the current national assembly won for
the Nigerian people since May, 2011? Trillions of naira have been
spent on “fuel subsidy” by the executive without appropriation, yet the
national assembly has failed to react strongly. The Nigerian people
were forced, in spite of the lame protestation of the legislature, to pay
50 percent more for petrol in 2012, yet, the senate, toward the end of
2012, approved additional N 161.6 billion for Jonathan to spend on
fuel subsidy payments, bringing the total expenditure on fuel subsidy
in 2012 to N 1.06 trillion! The national assembly only whines about
amounts that the executive requests it to approve for funding; but in
the end, they are approved however indefensible! They have failed
to punish; they have failed to bite.

They are simply the rubber stamp of the executive. When the
national assembly grandstands publicly, it is only a matter of time
before the legislators defer to the lusts and greed of the executive.
The 2013 budget has passed without any significant mopping up of
the fatty inclusions by the executive that added no real value. I agree
that the recurrent expenditure has been pruned down by N 100
billion, and the savings have been assigned to capital expenditure. I
agree that the crude oil benchmark has been raised from $ 75 to $
79, which has reduced deficit spending from N 1.03 trillion to N 887
billion. But what is strange is that nothing in either the budget
proposal by the executive or the budget appropriation by the
legislature has addressed a huge source of bleeding on the
commonwealth. There is no provision in the budget for building of
refineries. If in spite of the reduction of fuel subsidy spending in
2012, Nigeria spent more than one trillion naira on the subsidy, it
should be a matter of concern to the national assembly that Nigeria
does not own refineries that can refine both for domestic and foreign
markets. It is not a secret that some legislators and the executive
would like the scrapping of fuel subsidy because of “corruption in its
implementation.” This is an open confession of the incompetence of
the Jonathan government. If a government cannot defend the people
against economic predators then it has outlived its usefulness.
Should the 2004 pension act be abrogated and pension payment
outlawed in Nigeria only because of the corruption that has been
perpetrated in the management of the pension fund? Should
government departments where corrupt practices have been
established be scrapped then?

What is the philosophy that guided the formulation of the 2013
budget? I heard that President Jonathan was hopeful that 2013 would
be “better than 2012”, with the assurance that jobs would be
created.  If jobs are going to be created we should find evidence in
the 2013 budget:

Public works

All federal roads in Nigeria are in a terrifying state of disrepair. Road
contracts in Nigeria are inflated beyond shame or restraint of natural
conscience. A road that is less than 100 kilometers long could be
awarded for N 100 billion! Well, going by this obscene tradition of
contract costing, the N 1.6 trillion voted for capital expenditure in the
2013 budget cannot complete even 2000 kilometer-length of roads
(Do pardon the many kilometers I have stated). This should be
considered against the background that there are about 30,000
kilometers of federal roads in Nigeria, almost all of which are dotted
by yawning craters, broken bridges, and sharp-edged polygonical
ditches. The state of the most important road in Nigeria (The Lagos-
Ibadan expressway) should tell us about the comedy of governance
in this “Giant of Africa”. Maiduguri-Yola-Jalingo-Gboko-Otukpo-Enugu
federal road is a disaster to drive on. Enugu-Port Harcourt federal
road is legendary in the tale of failed governance. Ayangba-Ajaokuta-
Okene road is a national disgrace. Ibadan-Ilorin-Abuja-Kaduna road
is not better. Ore-Benin road has become a singsong without a
beautiful end. I can go on. What economy can a government hope to
build where road transportation has been so neglected in spite of
yearly budget rituals?

I have read about the chest-beating by the federal government that it
has revived rail commute between Lagos and Kano on the colonial
era single tracks that we used during our student days in the 1980s.
The cars used on those tracks are so outdated and uncomfortable in
the tropical heat. This is not how to build a nation. In an age of fast-
moving air-conditioned cabin cars on rail, the Jonathan government
is hypocritically siphoning public funds in the name of “rehabilitation
of colonial-day railways”, being part of a government that had
cancelled a contract for the construction of a dual track railway, which
project would have been completed in 2010, and on which trains
should have travelled at 160 kilometers per hour, and at a time when
Nigeria had more than 20 billion US dollars in the Excess Crude
account!

The aviation industry is in a trauma of its own. Many lives have been
claimed through plane and helicopter crashes in 2012 alone. The
summary is that transportation in Nigeria is a frightening experience.
Now, where will job-creating investments come from when
transportation has become a trap in Nigeria? The 2013 budget may
likely go the way of previous budgets with no significant
accomplishments.

Legislative oversight functions

Available evidence has shown that we do not yet have a legislature
that is principled and dogged enough to make the executive succumb
to good sense in managing of public resources. How can a group of
contract-chasing legislators ensure effective implementation of
budgets? Failure of both implementation of yearly budgets and
sanctioning of corrupt and incompetent public officials offer little hope
that the 2013 budget will be any different. What kind of
transformation have Nigeria’s legislators and the executive
undergone to assure Nigerians of “better things in 2013”? The greed,
lack of empathy, and the cavalier attitude towards legacy building by
Nigeria’s public officials tell us the story of the 2013 budget. It
sounded awful but familiar, and it changed nothing except worsen
things.

It is my strong conviction that nothing changes that is left the same.
What is so different about the 2013 budget that should excite? Well,
some would respond that the “early passage of the budget would
allow the executive enough time to implement.” I have a question,
then. Has late appropriation of previous budgets been the true cause
of poor implementation of past budgets, averaging only 40 per cent?
Deliberate delay in allocation of funds to ministries, departments, and
agencies has stifled execution of capital projects in the past. Poor
and duplicitous supervision by relevant legislative committees is
another reason for poor implementation of past budgets. Lack of
punishment of contractors of failed or failing and abandoned projects
and their collaborating civil servants has only emboldened impunity.
What assurances do we have that things would change? Better still,
what evidence do we have that the government of President
Jonathan is ready to protect the commonwealth? Let me say why I
believe Jonathan’s government will only get worse.

A government that pays little attention to matters of principle,
integrity, reputation and perception cannot succeed. Mr. Tony Anenih
who has been accused, from the time when Mr. Orji Kalu was a
governor, of embezzling billions of naira budgeted for construction of
federal roads when he was Minister of works, has just been
appointed by Mr. Jonathan as chairman of the Nigeria Ports
Authority. Mr. Doyin Okupe, whom the Benue state government has
accused of collecting money to build roads in the state, which he
failed to do, is presently serving in the government of the president.
The current Minister of Petroleum supervises the NNPC and DPR,
both of whom have been fingered in the mismanagement of the fuel
subsidy funds. Yet, she sits pretty well in her job without
compunction. The report of an investigative panel pretentiously set
up by her with regard to oil revenues has been consigned to the bin.
These are no cheering signs.

The Nigerian people can only rely on people power to pressure the
government towards the desired course. It takes being purposeful
and consistent. It requires Nigerian elite who have refused to be
soiled to lead the struggle. Nigerians don’t need elite who were on
the other side of the oppressors, who now being shut out have
suddenly become civil rights activists. But the people can only get
what they deserve. Their courage tells when they are deserving of
the desired.

Leonard Karshima Shilgba is an Associate Professor of mathematics
with the American University of Nigeria and Chair of the Middle Belt
Alliance (www.middlebeltalliance.org)

Email: Shilgba@middlebeltalliance.org
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