ABUJA- Dr Tope Fasua, Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Office of the Vice President, says the country’s annual budget is one of the lowest when compared the other countries.
Fasua said this on Thursday in Abuja, at the public presentation of a book with title ‘Budget as a Policy Instrument for Public Financial Management’.
Comparing the country’s budget with that of South Africa, he said with just about 60 million population, South Africa’s annual budget stood at 150billion dollars.
He suggested that public sector practitioners must come up with initiatives that would help raise the country’s income generating capacity.
“If you look at our 2024 budget of 15billion dollars, if we are 200 million population, it means each citizen will be getting just 75 dollars.
“That is what is budgeted for health, agriculture, security, education, works, and every other thing; it is grossly inadequate.
“The total budget of the 36 states is 15.9 trillion Naira, Lagos managed to cross two trillion Naira, Ekiti is the smallest with 154 billion Naira,” he said.
He emphasised that the country had a large informal economy and called for a reliable data on the country’s population.
The book author, Mr Wahab Omoniyi, a former Chairman of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), FCT Chapter, said fundamental knowledge of budgeting was vital for households and small businesses.
“When it comes to budgeting process, a lot has not been done to adequately educate citizens on what it is all about in spite of how important it is in human society.
“That is why I think this document will go a long way in broadening our people’s knowledge on budgeting,” he said.
Omoniyi called for the inclusion of budgetary studies in secondary schools’ curriculum to drive a robust orientation on the importance.
The President and Chairman of Council of ANAN, Dr James Neminebor, said that budget was a crucial document to save enterprises and government from financial crisis.
He lauded the quality of research done by the author.
The Budget titled “Budget of Renewed Hope” showed a proposed expenditure of NGN27.5 trillion and an estimated revenue of NGN18.32 trillion for the 2024 fiscal year. (NAN)
