Thoughts on 2022 federal budget

The Federal Government will in the next couple of days present the 2022 budget estimates to the National Assembly. The usual process of fiscal noise will rent the air while the horse-trading between the executive and legislature will become the business of the day on the allocation of the resources of the Federal Government to different programmes, projects and constituencies.

However, it is imperative to remind the public officials in the executive and legislature of the dire challenges facing the economy and people of Nigeria.

This reminder is not really a reminder in the real sense of the word because the two arms of government are fully abreast of the condition of the economy which has virtually collapsed. Yes, they may pretend that all is well and continue deceiving Nigerians. But they know the truth and the statistics, facts and data upon which reasonable Nigerians have used to arrive at the inexorable conclusion that the economy has collapsed are produced by the executive and ratified by the legislature. So, any continuation of business-as-usual budgeting will clearly be a sign of insensitivity and deliberate refusal to take into cognisance the long-suffering of a majority of Nigerians.

What are the key economic indicators? The first is an economy where 87% of retained revenue is dedicated to servicing debts. The second is an economy where salaries of key members of the executive and legislature and indeed, the whole paraphernalia of governance are paid with borrowed money. The third is a scenario where all capital expenditure is sourced from borrowed funds. The fourth is a scenario where the demand and value of imports outstrip exports by over 200%. The fifth is a currency on a free fall and seems to have nothing to wedge the fall. The sixth is an inflationary spiral that has rubbished the income of a majority of citizens where their take-home income cannot take them anywhere near their home. The seventh is the insecurity ravaging the land which has defied all the solutions preferred by the executive, legislature and judiciary.

There are so many other challenges that could run into double-digit which have made our economy lie prostrate.

Against this background, this is no longer the time for expenditure proposals not backed by any reference to a high level and overarching national policies. Unfortunately, since the expiry by the effluxion of time of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, a successor plan has been in the offing without a conclusion. This is not the time for playing on words to draw money from the treasury, deploying such loose words like empowerment, capacity building, etc. These words have no fixed meaning and have been abused over the years between the legislature and the executive to literally steal money from the treasury. It will be the height of wickedness, and I dare say, a level of insanity to insist on stealing borrowed money which is hanging on the neck of future generations, without investing the same in regenerative projects which will facilitate repayment in future.

In any family, community or human organisation, when available resources have been depleted, the natural course of action is to review the expenditure against the income, cut down waste and frivolities, concentrate on essentials so as to tidy over the economic challenges. Furthermore, strategies for enhancing available revenue are considered and deployed. It is not the time to focus on bickering on how to share available resources. It is time to focus on generating new resources. This is the time to review the remuneration of key state officials in the executive and legislature and to even interrogate the numbers working in the public service. For the high-level executive and legislative officials, the quantum of resources they are paid and their perks of office at the public expense are obscene and insane and should be reviewed. For the numbers working in the public service, their output and results should be used to benchmark the value they bring to the public who they serve and who owns the money from which they are paid. The emphasis beyond cutting the cost of governance will be to improve productivity so as to generate more public goods and services to grow the economy and enhance the welfare of the people.

This is the time to question and review ongoing projects to select the few that will produce the utmost contribution to the economy in terms of job creation, revenue generation, new export revenue and generally improving the economy and welfare of the people. It is time for leadership to be at the forefront of belt-tightening, to lead by example while convincing Nigerians to cut expenditure on consumption subsidies and reprogramme the sums so saved to production. It is time to ensure that nothing foreign is procured with public funds when there are local alternatives, produced and marketed at a comparative cost. It is time to buy Nigeria-made goods and services, to create a concentric circle where public expenditure actually grows the economy and encourages local value addition.

For the National Assembly, this is the time to stop acting as a rubber stamp and begin to act like real elected representatives of the people. A moratorium on new borrowing, especially borrowing for wasteful, unessential, white elephant projects or for endless reforms to create a job must be put in place.

This is the time to stop programming N150bn to service the obnoxious lifestyles of a few elected members and the bureaucracy. Less than 50% of this sum will take care of the honest and reasonable needs of these Nigerians.

In the final analysis, the 2022 budget estimates and its approval provide an opportunity for Nigerians to reclaim their civic space in the midst of hardship. Leaving fiscal governance to a few elected and appointed officials will not in any way contribute to relieving the economic hardship.