By Franca Ofili
Abuja – Mr Ken Ukaoha, President, National Association of Nigerian Traders, says late budget approval will put a lot of pressure on the executive and legislature to implement and monitor.
Ukaoha told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that when budgets were delayed, it would affect economic growth of the country.
“When budget is delayed, the implication is that government may not be able to spend or execute 40 per cent of the capital expenditure,’’ he said.
Ukaoha,. however, commended the three arms of government for coming to terms to pass the 2017 budget in June.
“The concern is that our financial period as a country should be from January to December every year and that should be the budget track.
“The budget was passed in the first half of the year and the country has only six months to implement and is not that we have bracket of funds available waiting for budget approval and spending.
“This budget is depended on revenue coming in and going out; so, what is the possibility of meeting up with the budget strictly in terms of implementation?
“Such pressure to implement and monitor may end up with speedy kind of implementation that may not follow the due process and that is where the corruption will come in.
“The 2016 budget was signed in May and 2017 in June; the country has missed budget timeline and this should be addressed,’’ Ukaoha said.
He said that the budget provided for the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan 2017-2020 (ERGP) but noted that six months had already gone for a four-year plan.
Ukaoha added that for the plan, the first half of the year was gone, saying that lost time could not be redeemed; so, technically it meant that the realisation of the plan had a question mark.
Ukaoha said one major thing that would be looked into in 2017 budget was agriculture as a key component for the growth recovery that would put the nation out of recession.
According to him, it appears that both the parliament and executive forget that agriculture is a seasonal business in the country where farmers start farming from February.
He added that the farmers should have been given all the necessary farm inputs by January.
“So, the 2017 budget is meant for dry season farming and how many crops grow in dry season and how many people are involved in dry season farming,’’ Ukaoha said.
He advised that the three tiers of government should approve the budget on time to address poverty in the country, saying “if there is quick approval and appropriation then the implementation will start immediately”.
According to him, the present administration is trying in the implementation of 2016 budget because by the end of the year, the actual revenue was N2.95 trillion which is 76.4 per cent of 3.85 trillion budgeted.
“Also, oil revenue was N697.8 billion which is 97.2 per cent of the budget; again, this is kudos to the government.
“Company Income Tax and Value Added Tax collection were about 52.8 per cent of the amount that was budgeted totally,’’ he said.
Ukaoha added that the Custom revenue was about N247 billion which was 63.6 per cent of performance.
He said that in spite of the shortfall in revenue in 2016, the government was able to meet up with depth services engagement, personal obligation and overhead was lightly covered. (NAN)