…says NASS overburdening FG with N578bn projects meant for states, LGs Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari has finally signed the 2018 Appropriation Act. He signed the document a few minutes after midday on Wednesday in his office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. On his Twitter handle, the president said, “a few minutes past noon today, I signed the 2018 Appropriation Bill into Law.” The President, however, raised concerns over some of the changes made by the National Assembly in the budget. Buhari regretted that the federal lawmakers made reductions amounting to N347bn in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to N578bn. Buhari wrote, “I am however concerned about some of the changes @nassnigeria has made to the budget proposals I presented. READ ALSO: Defence minister shouldn’t be Miyetti Allah’s mouthpiece —Ortom “The logic behind the constitutional direction that budgets should be proposed by the Executive is that, it is the Executive that knows & defines its policies & projects. “Unfortunately, that has not been given much regard in what has been sent to me. The National Assembly made cuts amounting to N347 billion in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to N578 billion. “As it is, some of these projects relate to matters that are the responsibility of the States and Local Governments, and for which the Federal Government should therefore not be unduly burdened.” The President lamented that the 2018 Appropriation Act, which he signed into law, would be difficult, if not impossible, to implement because of the alterations members of the National Assembly effected on the document he submitted to them on November 7, 2017. He accused the federal lawmakers of, among others, increasing the National Assembly budget by N14.5bn from N125bn to N139.5bn without any discussion with the Executive. He also accused them of injecting 6,403 projects of their own totaling N578bn into the national budget while making cuts amounting to N347bn in the allocations to 4,700 projects as submitted to them. Buhari spoke shortly after signing the document into law in his office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The President noted that many of the projects cut are critical and may be difficult, if not impossible, to implement with the reduced allocation. He regretted that some of the new projects inserted by the National Assembly have not been properly conceptualised, designed and costed and will therefore be difficult to execute. The President said, “As I mentioned during the presentation of the 2018 Appropriation Bill, we intend to use the 2018 Budget to consolidate the achievements of previous budgets and deliver on Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan 2017-2020. “It is in this regard that I am concerned about some of the changes that the National Assembly has made to the budget proposals that I presented. “The logic behind the constitutional direction that budgets should be proposed by the Executive is that, it is the Executive that knows and defines its policies and projects. “Unfortunately, that has not been given much regard in what has been sent to me. The National Assembly made cuts amounting to N347bn in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to N578bn. “Many of the projects cut are critical and may be difficult, if not impossible, to implement with the reduced allocation. Some of the new projects inserted by the National Assembly have not been properly conceptualised, designed and costed and will therefore be difficult to execute. “Furthermore, many of these new projects introduced by the National Assembly have been added to the budgets of most MDAs with no consideration for institutional capacity to execute them or the incremental recurrent expenditure that may be required. “As it is, some of these projects relate to matters that are the responsibility of the States and Local Governments, and for which the Federal Government should therefore not be unduly burdened.” Buhari cited examples of projects from which cuts were made to include the provisions for some nationally/regionally strategic infrastructure projects such as counterpart funding for the Mambilla Power Plant, Second Niger Bridge/ancillary roads, the East-West Road, Bonny-Bodo Road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Itakpe-Ajaokuta Rail Project which he said were cut by an aggregate of N11.5bn . Similarly, the President said provisions for some ongoing critical infrastructure projects in Abuja, especially major arterial roads and the mass transit rail project were cut by a total of N7.5bn.<doc-sep>ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria’s president signed a record 9.12 trillion-naira ($29 billion) budget for 2018 into law on Wednesday but said he would use a supplementary spending plan to seek changes, creating uncertainty about the final details of his growth strategy. Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari attends a reception at the closing session of the Commonwealth Business Forum at the Guildhall in London, Britain on April 18, 2017. Daniel Leal-Olivas/Pool via Reuters Muhammadu Buhari is pushing to foster growth in Nigeria, which has west Africa’s biggest economy, before an election next February in which he will seek a second term. His economic policies, and their impact on Nigerians, could sway voters. Nigeria’s parliament, the National Assembly, passed the budget last month. The total sum is higher than the 8.6 trillion naira spending plan presented to parliament by Buhari in November, which lawmakers said was due to an increase in the assumed oil price to $51 per barrel from $45. Buhari was critical of changes made by the National Assembly, which he said cut a total of 347 billion naira for 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to 578 billion naira. He cited examples of funds being cut, including 8.7 billion taken from a housing programme, and said lawmakers added projects that were not properly assessed. Buhari also said parliament increased its own budget from 125 billion naira to 139.5 billion naira. “I have decided to sign the 2018 budget in order not to further slowdown the pace of recovery of our economy, which has doubtlessly been affected by the delay in passing the budget,” said Buhari in a speech after the signing. Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, emerged from its first recession in 25 years in 2017, helped by higher crude prices, but growth remains fragile. “It is my intention to seek to remedy some of the most critical of these issues through a supplementary and/or amendment budget, which I hope the National Assembly will be able to expeditiously consider,” Buhari said. A spokesman for the lower house of parliament, the House of Representatives, said some projects put forward by the executive “do not meet the needs of the common man” and the legislature aimed to help those it represents. “The additional costs and projects to the budget were done in good faith for the sole purpose of improving the lives of Nigerians,” said the spokesman, Abdulrazak Namdas. A spokesmen for the upper house of parliament could not immediately be reached. Budgets under Buhari, who took office in May 2015, have been Nigeria’s largest ever - the latest is up from last year’s 7.44 trillion-naira spending plan. But economists say implementation has been poor and failed to provide the type of capital spending needed to improve infrastructure. “Despite the approach of elections in early 2019, there is no reason to assume this time around that all of the spending plans will necessarily be executed,” said Razia Khan, chief Africa economist at Standard Chartered Bank. She added that the plan for a supplementary budget was “likely to be because of some degree of uncertainty as to the value of all the spending projects that were proposed by the Senate and approved”. John Ashbourne, senior emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, said next year’s vote, in which some legislators will seek election, may have led to the insertion of some projects by lawmakers. The International Monetary Fund in February said Nigerians were getting poorer despite the recovery from recession. Inflation has fallen for 16 straight months, slowing to a more than two year low of 11.6 percent in May. ($1 = 314.5000 naira)<doc-sep>
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari signed the 2018 Appropriation Bill (budget) into law few minutes past noon on Wednesday, June 20, 2018. Here’s what we know The National Assembly made cuts amounting to N347 billion The 8th National Assembly, NASS, have made some cuts in the Appropriation Bill submitted by President Buhari to the tune of N347 billion. President Buhari revealed that legislative arm of the government made cuts amounting to N347 billion in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introduced 6,403 projects of their own amounting to N578 billion. The 2018 approved Budget Budget size: N9.12 Trillion Deficit: N1.95 Trillion: Recurrent Non Debt: N3.51 Trillion Capital Expenditure: N2.87 Trillion Debt Servicing: N2.2 Trillion Statutory Allocation: N530 Billion Revenue: N7.1 Trillion 2018 budget is the longest to be passed into law The 2018 budget has been judged as the longest budget in the history of Nigeria to be passed by legislative. The passing of the budget is responsible for the execution of various Federal projects. During ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, the budget was delayed till February. For late former President Umaru Yar’Adua, the Appropriation Bill was passed on April 22 while ex-President Goodluck Jonathan signed the country’s budget into law on May 24, 2018. The longest budget so far to be passed into law is the 2018 budget which was signed into law on June 20, 2018, by President Muhammadu Buhari. While signing the budget into law, President Buhari noted that the budget was passed by the National Assembly seven months after he had submitted the proposals. While the Federal Government’s budget represents less than 10% of aggregate yearly expenditures in the economy, it has a very significant accelerator effect on the financial plans of other tiers of government, and even more importantly, the private sector, which mostly operates on a January-December financial year. President Buhari is unhappy and worried President Buhari has expressed worries over the substantial cut of N347 billion for 4,700 projects by the National Assembly and replaced with N578 billion for 6,403 projects. Buhari said: “I am however concerned about some of the changes @nassnigeria has made to the budget proposals I presented. The logic behind the Constitutional direction that budgets should be proposed by the Executive is that it is the Executive that knows & defines its policies & projects. “Unfortunately, that has not been given much regard in what has been sent to me. Many of the projects cut are critical and may be difficult, if not impossible, to implement with the reduced allocation. Some of the new projects inserted by National Assembly have not been properly conceptualized, designed and cost and will, therefore, be difficult to execute.” Project affected by the cuts on 2018 Budget President Buhari has reiterated that the cut in the 2018 budget will affect several projects. According to the Presidency, here is a list of the projects that will be affected as a result of the cut. A total of N5 billion was cut from the provisions for Pension Redemption Fund and Public Service Wage Adjustment. The provision for Construction of the Terminal Building at Enugu Airport was cut from N2 billion to N500 million, which will further delay the completion of this critical project. The Take-off Grant for the Maritime University in Delta State, a key strategic initiative of the Federal Government, was cut from N5 billion to N3.4 billion. About 70 new road projects have been inserted into the budget of the Federal Ministry of Power, Works, and Housing. In doing so, the legislative arm applied some of the additional funds expected from the upward review of the oil price benchmark to the Ministry’s vote. The NASS increased the provisions for Statutory Transfers by an aggregate of N73.96 billion.