Members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday expressed concerns over poor implementation of the capital expenditure of the Appropriation Act and an increase in recurrent expenditure.
The lawmakers made the observations during the debate on the general principle of the N8.61 trillion budget estimates for the 2018 fiscal year.
According to Yussuff Lasun, Deputy Speaker who presided over the plenary session, the House is expected to adjourn plenary to enable the standing committee to embark on oversight functions of various capital projects embarked on by all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) during the 2017 fiscal year.
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In his lead debate on the 2018 budget estimates, Femi Gbajabiamila, House Leader explained that out of the N8.612 trillion total expenditure proposed for the 2018 fiscal year; the sum of N456.459 billion is for statutory transfers; N2.234 trillion is for debt service; N3.494 trillion is for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure while N2.428 trillion is for contribution to the development fund for capital expenditure.
According to him, the total oil production is pegged at 2.51 million barrels per day while budget oil production volume net incremental was pegged at 2.3mbpd; $45 oil benchmark; while the exchange rate was pegged at N305/$ for 2018 fiscal year.
Some of the lawmakers who spoke on the 2017 estimates are Mohammed Monguno, Simon Arabo (APC-Kaduna); Isiaka Ibrahim (APC-Ogun) and Dennis Agbo (PDP-Enugu).
While speaking, Mohammed Mungonu (APC-Borno) who bemoaned the poor implementation of the 2017 capital expenditure which currently stands at 10% since the passage of the 2017 Appropriation Act, emphasized the need to remove the bureaucratic bottlenecks that contribute to slow pace of budget implementation.
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On his part, Chika Adamu (APC-Niger) noted that the recurrent, debt servicing and inflation rate are on the increase compared with the previous year, adding that the capital expenditure should be increased.
He also lamented that most of the interventions of the Federal Government are palliative measures rather than sustainable projects that will impact on lives of the citizenry and engender concrete development.
The lawmaker also decried the situation where Federal Government continues to give bailout and intervention funds to sub-national governments to pay outstanding salaries, allowances and pensions, stressing that such funds should have been better channelled to infrastructural development.
Also speaking, Dennis Agbo urged the House to ascertain the level of implementation of the 2017 Appropriation Act before consideration of the general principles of the 2018 budget estimates.
He also tasked the House on the need to ensure that the implementation of the budget should not be at the whims and caprices of the Executive arm of government, but ensure full implementation of the N100 billion zonal intervention projects.
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In his remarks, Isiaka Ibrahim (APC-Ogun) who argued that nothing tangible result from of the 2018 budget, considering the arbitrary implementation of previous budgets, urged the House to conduct NEEDS assessment of people’s needs at the State, Local Government and community levels with the view to prioritize them in the 2018 budget.
The debate on the general principles of the 2018 budget estimates is expected to continue on Wednesday and Thursday legislative days after which it would be referred to relevant standing Committees namely: Committee on Appropriation, Finance, Aids, Loans and Debt Management as well as Budget and Research for further legislative action.
According to the legislative practice, all the standing committees are expected to be constituted into sub-Committees of the House Committee on Appropriations that will engage with all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on various sub-heads captured in the budget proposals.
According to a document submitted by Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning to the House, based on an estimate of aggregate national consumption of N90.48 trillion for 2018 against N83.84 trillion in 2017, the government is expected to increase the 5% VAT revenue by 42% in 2018.
KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja
