There was bickering in the Senate, yesterday, when the lawmakers commenced debate on the 2021 Appropriation Bill, which was laid before the two Chambers of the National Assembly last week Thursday by President Muhammadu Buhari.
While most members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) described the proposals as mere annual ritual and unrealistic, members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) made desperate efforts to convince Nigerians that the budget was intended for their good.
Leader of the Senate, Senator Abdullahi Yahaya, had, after moving a motion for the Senate to commence debate on the general principles of the money bill, introduced and led the debate on the proposals. Immediately he finished his lead debate, where he commented on the various projections and parameters used to prepare the budget, the Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, took the stage, pointing out the numerous defects in the budget.
Abaribe posited that the budget was nothing but mere repetition of previous years’ rituals based on unrealistic assumptions and expectations. According to him, the budget did not take care of the global changes, whereby economies were shifting from oil to alternative sources of revenue. He said: “Nigeria’s 2021 federal budget proposal reads like a template from yesteryears; just with different numbers.
The budget does not reflect an understanding that the world has changed and that the nation’s problems have intensified. “The oil era is fading out, but the government retains an attitude of business-asusual. This is not a time for tokenistic ideas. Nigeria needs big ideas. This 2021 budget proposal failed to deliver on that point.
“While Nigeria postures as a capitalistic economy, Buhari’s 2021 federal budget de-emphasises the role of the markets in addressing the challenges in the economy, and seeks to expand the size of government. “For instance, the 2021 budget proposes the building of new healthcare centres, procurement and equipping of numerous primary healthcare centres. While this makes for a good political headline, it is not different from what was done in the past that resulted in a substandard healthcare system.
“The 2021 budget does not reflect an understanding of the fundamental challenges with providing healthcare services in Nigeria. The budget does not reflect any actions to encourage private sector investments in the health sector.
“Most Nigerians acknowledge that the bureaucracy is too big and unwieldy; yet, the Buhari administration is focused on expanding the bureaucracy. For instance, the 2021 budget proposes to establish five new Federal Science and Technology Centres.
“The budget does not reflect an understanding of why the education system has failed or what needs to be done to fix it. Building new centres when the old centres are substandard does not address the rot in the system.
Throwing good money after bad ideas is what got Nigeria in this rot in the first place. “So, this budget is nothing but what Fela called old news. Every time, the same old news, nothing new.” However, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, challenged Abaribe, reminding him that the budget proposal was an estimate and assumption, adding that it was what every government did since 1999 and would continue to be. “Concentrate on those things you think we can do to make this budget perform optimally,” Lawan charged Abaribe.
But Abaribe countered Lawan, asking rhetorically that if the budget was based on assumption as he said: “Why are you not assuming properly? We should not also be assuming the wrong things.” Also, in his contribution, the Senate Deputy Chief Whip, Abdullahi Sabi, tackled Abaribe, saying that the opposition leader was playing to the gallery of the opposition. Sabi stated that the current budget was that of recovery and that the government of the day was doing everything within its powers to stabilize the economy to the benefit of the citizenry. He said: “This administration’s budget is that of recovery and resilience.
I know what recovery means. As a Veterinary Doctor, I know what it means to bring an animal back to recovery. This government understands that the country is not all well.” Senator Gabriel Suswam (PDP, Benue) expressed reservations on the ability of the Buhari administration to successfully implement the 2021 budget, stressing that the projections were unrealistic and not sustainable. “The budget is themed economic recovery and resilience. It means something has gone wrong and you want to repair something that has gone wrong. This is not a partisan issue. This is about us Nigerians. “Most of the time, when you do domestic borrowing, you crowd out the private sector.
Mr. President’s intention of creating jobs is not actualisable. “We are literally violating the laws we have set out. The leader mentioned in page 4 that the budget is not sustainable. The deficit has gone beyond 3 per cent.
“For every N100 earned, N60 goes to debt servicing. When will borrowing end?” Suswam asked. Also speaking, Senator Thompson Sekbio (PDP, Rivers) expressed concerns that the capital budget was meagre while debt service was large, lamenting that the situation posed great danger for future Nigeria. Former Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu (PDP, Enugu), also observed that the budget would be difficult to implement.
Earlier in his lead debate, Senator Yahaya tried to convince his colleagues that the present economic woes started before the current administration, and got aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic.
He also admitted that some of the projections in the budget were not healthy for the development of the country, urging for the senators’ intervention to make things better in terms of implementability.
“Nevertheless, it is also important to note that a budget deficit of this size requiring more indebtedness is not healthy for the long-term development of the country, but this must be tolerated now because of the challenges of the times.
“It is important, above all to note that this is a budget of recovery and perseverance. Indeed, the Buhari administration, since its inception on May 29, 2015, has been the most economically jinxed in the history of this nation.” Other APC senators who contributed to the debate, such as Adamu Aliero, Uba Sani, Ibikunle Amosun, among others, spoke in favour of the budget.
