2012 Budget: Jonathan vows to sack indicted officials for lobbying NASS

[TheNation]

  Jonathan    President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday  signed the 2012 Appropriation Bill into law after what he called extensive discussions with the leadership of the National Assembly over the  grey areas passed by the legislative arm.

The president, however,  vowed to sack heads of departments and parastatals indicted for lobbying members of the National Assembly for upward review of their budget. Such review, according to him, distorts national planning.

But he pledged that the 2013 budget would start in earnest with the MDAs already billed to defend their proposals before him next month. The proposals will then be sent to the Ministry of Finance and the budget office between July and August, followed by submission to the National Assembly not later than  September.

The 2012 Budget has an aggregate expenditure of N4.697 trillion. This excludes the N180 billion appropriated for programmes and projects encapsulated under the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment-Programme, (SURE-P).

The total Federal Government revenue forecast is N3.561 trillion based on a Benchmark Oil Price of US$72 per barrel, which is US$2 higher than the initial proposal of US$70 per barrel.

The 2012 budget consists of capital expenditure of N1.34 trillion and recurrent expenditure of  N3.357 trillion.

The  Capital Expenditure is 28.5 percent of the aggregate expenditure.

The president’s assent came   a month after the budget was passed by the National Assembly.  

The  president submitted the budget to the National Assembly on  December 13, 2011 and it was passed by the two chambers on the  March 15, 2012 with an upward review of the  benchmark oil price from $70 to $72 per barrel.

However, the president demanded for clarification over some grey areas such as the inclusion of SURE-P fund  into the main budget and the rationale behind the increase of the pegged crude oil  price from $70 per barrel to $72 and also the allocation of more funds to MDAs.

The president at the signing of the bill yesterday said: “We have had extensive discussions with the National Assembly since then, and the result is the budget that I now have the honour of signing into law today. It is a budget of fiscal consolidation, inclusive economic growth and job creation.”

He said  the additional resources from the increased price of crude oil “were used to increase the capital expenditure and to reduce the deficit to a manageable level that we can finance without excessive borrowing.”

One of the main goals of this administration, according to him, is  “to complete and exit the large stock of ongoing projects and programmes.

“Thus, the 2012 budget is focused on completing viable ongoing projects, in accordance with the Transformation Agenda, which will quickly deliver tangible and significant added value to Nigerians.

“Furthermore, our approach to funding the development of critical infrastructure in Nigeria is to involve the private sector, which has the capital and implementation capacity to successfully deliver specific infrastructure projects:       Non-debt Recurrent Expenditure is at N2.425 trillion, which is 52 percent of the total budget compared to 54 percent of the aggregate budget in 2011.

“This is in line with government’s determination to correct the structural imbalance in our expenditure profile where recurrent spending has outstripped the growth of spending on capital projects in recent times.      

“Based on the above and in line with government’s medium-term strategy, the share of the recurrent spending in aggregate expenditure has declined from 74.4 percent in 2011 to 71.5 per cent in 2012.

“The deficit is 2.85 percent of GDP, which is in line with the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, which pegs this at three percent of GDP.The goal of achieving positive macroeconomic stability is no end in itself.

“The robust growth experienced in recent years needs to be translated into tangible and concrete improvement in the living standards of our people.

“In this respect, the government is focused on investments in priority sectors in order to sustain economic growth and create jobs.  The 2012 budget is geared toward supporting economic growth and employment creation,” the president stated.

On the  2013 budget, the president said he has already directed the Chief of Staff that all MDAs would  defend their proposals before him between May and June, while  the Ministry of Finance and the budget office between July and August will fine-tune the proposals  and “hope to present the budget to the National Assembly in September.”

This, he hoped , would give the National Assembly enough time to look into the budget and enough time for robust discussion between the  Ministry of Finance and the National Assembly so that they will have a clear picture of where the country wants to go because the country belongs to all of us.

Based on this, he pleaded with members of the National Assembly not to entertain any form of lobbying, saying those already indicted will face sack.



TheNation

[EmekaWilson]

I think Goodluck is maning up...thats a good prognosis

[Agbose Emmanuel]

There is nothing maning about wat he has done. he always talks, doing the talk is the thing. if u bark without biting, wat have you done? they just waste money on irrelevant hings in the budget and leave the masses poor. to fend for themselves.

[EmekaWilson]

There is nothing maning about wat he has done. he always talks, doing the talk is the thing. if u bark without biting, wat have you done? they just waste money on irrelevant hings in the budget and leave the masses poor. to fend for themselves.

Well yes that has always been his problem...inability to implement hi word policies and thats bad for a president.