CHARLES Nwekeaku of the Nasarawa State University, Keffi has called for synergy between the executive and legislature to enhance smooth budgeting system in the country.

Nwekeaku, an Associate Prof. at the university made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday.

He, however, blamed the delay in signing the 2018 budget on communication gap between the executive and the legislature.

NAN recalls that the 2018 budget was signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on June 20, after it was raised from N8.61 trillion to N9.12 trillion by the National Assembly

“The legislators represent different constituencies and may have added some projects to the budget to ensure their constituency feel the impact of government.

“Some of those projects inserted could have been part of the original budget if there was synergy between the legislature and the executive and it would have helped the executive to prioritise.

“To avoid this from re-occurring, there is the need for the executive to involve the legislature from inception, the planning, and preparation so that there won’t be much discrepancy.

“Even though, the delay by my own assessment does not cause any fundamental problem because there are measures to make up whatever the delay may have caused,’’ he said.

In keeping to January-December fiscal year, the don said there was nothing sacrosanct about it if the country had a financial year.

He, however, explained that if the leadership was committed and all relevant stakeholders were involved and on time, the cycle could be achieved.

Nwekeaku advised relevant stakeholders to see the budget as a national affair and not just the sole responsibility of the executive even though the constitution had made it so.

The don also urged government to minimise its borrowing and deficit to restrain the country from unnecessary extravagance.

“We should manage what we have internally and do what is predictable,’’ he said.

According to him, implementation of the 2018 budget may be difficult.

He described the budget as ambitious, being the highest in the history of Nigeria that had relied mainly on a number of uncertainties that were unpredictable.

“If you look at the budget, N1.6 trillion will be financed through borrowing, comprising N793 billion domestic borrowing, and N849 foreign borrowing, this is not good for the country.

“Again, it contains N1.960 trillion deficits, now if you add the N1.6 trillion to be borrowed to N1.96 trillion, it gives you N3.56 trillion which is almost 39.10 per cent of the entire budget. It is hanging.

“N2.01 trillion on debt servicing is about 21 per cent of the entire budget, so if you add 39.1 per cent to 21 per cent, it gives you 60 per cent of the budget, which is unpredictable.

“Also, when you look at the sources of revenue of the budget, you will see that oil occupies 41.7 per cent, and all these indices are not reliable and are unpredictable,’’ he said.

The don explained that the expectation of 2.3 million barrel per day of oil was not guaranteed, and the 51 dollars per barrel bench mark was also not sustainable because the price could crash.

He said that OPEC recently agreed to cut oil production by 1.8 million barrels, which could affect Nigeria, also there could be problem in the Niger-Delta from militants, which may also affect oil production.

“So as it is, you have seen the indices I mentioned, the budget is not predictable, the budget is not sustainable, so financing it may be difficult because certainly you may have cash problem,’’  Nwekeaku said. (NAN)

– Jun. 27, 2018 @ 13:55 GMT |