N466bn frivolous items in the 2017 Budget could improve access to tertiary education by 31%

At a time that Nigeria needs up to N1.5 trillion to improve access to tertiary education for over 30 million Nigerian youth seeking higher education, data from BidgIt has shown that 27 of the country’s ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) appear to have padded the 2017 budget by up to N466 billion.

This amount equates to 31 per cent of the total sum required to generate 10% annual increase in enrolment in the nation’s 141 public and private universities. As statistics show, of about 30 million Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 25, only 1.2 million apply to attend tertiary education institutions. Less than 300 thousand (25 per cent) are offered provisional admission, meaning that only 1 per cent of this potential stock of manpower supply acquires the education they desire.

Budget provisions from four ministries constitute 87 per cent of this year’s budget with up to N404 billion worth of suspicious items. This amount could channelled towards creating a student loan scheme that will boost tertiary education enrolment, similar to the ones that exist in Ghana, Botswana, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

 

Alternatively, the suspicious amount could be used to embark on massive upgrading of physical facilities in existing universities to take in at least additional 1,000 students per year.

A survey conducted by BusinessDay shows that the 40 federal and state universities will require N848 billion to increase their capacity (in terms of buildings, equipment and staffing) to admit additional 1,000 candidates each year; the private universities will require N646.6 billion for the same purpose.

Information from the National Universities Commission shows that in 2016, about 800,000 candidates may have failed to secure admission into Nigerian universities.  Assuming that 60 per cent of these candidates were suitably qualified, it means that a large army of about 500,000 youths were unleashed to roam the streets after the 2015/2016 admission season.  At an estimated annual increase of 8 per cent to 9 per cent in the number of candidates who take the Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) each year, this failure rate means that the country should brace up for consequent enormous societal problems.

The budget earmarked just N50 billion for capital projects in the education sector; this is less than 25 per cent of the suspicious amount in the budget and only 11 per cent of the total budget of the education ministry.

President Muhammadu Buhari, the country’s president, had promised Nigerians that the 2017 budget would usher in a direction for policy actions and steps to bring the economy out of recession and lead the country to an era of solid growth and wealth for the people but the high number of suspicious and frivolous items identified in the draft budget means that it may not achieve its objectives.

 

The president had told joint session of the country’s National Assembly on December 14 2016, when he presented the budget speech that the 2017 budget, which builds on that of 2016, provides a clear road map of policy actions and steps designed to bring the economy out of recession to a path of steady growth and prosperity.

But the BudgetIT Data shows that, just like the 2016 budget that was allegedly heavily padded, the 2017 budget contains a lot of items that are frivolous, outrageous, fraudulent, or items that suggest that the budget is padded.

For instance the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing budgeted N183 billion for construction and provision of fixed assets in unnamed locations; it budgeted N669 million for dualisation of Ibadan road (Mayfair junction)-Lagere-Iremo-Enuwa-Ilesha bypass c/no. 6080, a road which ‘concerned citizens’ who spoke to BudgIt said has been dualised.

In the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), the national commission for refugees budgeted N868 million for “durable solutions” and care and maintenance of persons-of-concerns. People who spoke to BudgetIT said that this line item is vague as they sought to know the meaning of ‘durable solutions’.

 

The budget has not been passed 2 months into the year, and the National Assembly appears to be in no hurry to do so considering the mistrust that the budget has invoked in minds of the lawmakers and well-meaning Nigerians. The whole budget issue highlights our penchant to be lax in handling national issues as the budget is unduly delayed already.

Delayed passage of the 2017 budget caused by suspected padding does not present a good outlook for both the average Nigerian and the managers of the economy. Nigerians expected the executive arm of the government to have presented the budget by October 2016, expecting that the national assembly would pass the budget latest by January this year.

 

With the shortage of tertiary education infrastructure, the struggle for higher education in Nigeria has become a battle for survival of the fittest. The National Universities Commission (NUC) has perfected a plan to ‘cream the top from high performers in the Senior School Certificate Examination’. Hence, rather than open the gates of the universities to about 500,000 candidates with 5 credit-level passes at two sittings, the NUC has demanded that the 5 credits be obtained at just one sitting for candidates to be eligible for admission. This requirement is in addition to the candidates posting an excellent performance in the post-UTME screening exercise.

Apart from the obvious toxic social costs that the budget padding anomaly bodes for Nigeria and Nigerians, it also causes implementation issues that will jeopardise the country’s prospects for economic recovery. Consequently, it is imperative that the president beams his watch on the 2017 budget to ensure that all items therein are justified.