Making and spending money is an activity we all participate in as individuals. The rule is to make more money than is spent but we suck at that sometime seven Nigeria does.
Recently the government although revenue-challenged approved N37bn approved for National Assembly renovation, and this got the public upset.
In this article we highlight the biggest financial waste that occurred this year; some were money opportunities missed and others are gross mismanagement.
1. Deciding New Election Date (N3 trillion or $10bn at N306/$)
When you have at least four years and a N189bn budget to prepare for an election, it is reasonable to expect that all loose ends are tied before the D-day. That is not the case in Nigeria where the electoral commission has a bad habit of posting elections.
A last minute change of heart in the 2019 general elections due to ‘logistics issues’ proved too costly, shaving N3trn ($10bn) off the economy, according to renowned economist Bismarck Rewane.
In context, the economic loss amounts to around two percent of N128trn recorded as nominal GDP in 2018.
Holding up the Naira and other things: Foreign Reserve ($4.11bn or N1.26trn at 306/$)
A country’s foreign exchange reserve is the foreign currencies it holds to support its currency value, maintain liquidity, pay foreign debts, as well as make direct payments, among other things.
Read also: Whose money is it?
For a country like Nigeria where official currency value is predetermined at a fixed rate set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the apex bank has to tap into its foreign exchange reserve from time to time to maintain that rate.
So far in the year (up till December 5), the reserve has fallen by $4.11bn to $39, although the apex bank had a few months back said waning oil price and its intervention in the forex market has been responsible for the decline.
It is also important to know Nigeria paid a $200m Guarantee to a UK court where it is fighting to overturn a $9.2bn judgment in favour of a foreign gas company, P&ID.
In context, Lagos the decline in the budget is 8 percent more than N1.168trn that Lagos plans to spend next year, which is the biggest state budget in Nigeria.
2. Economic Loss Due to Erratic Power Supply ($25bn or N7.65trn):
This is a an estimated loss projected by the Nigerian Power Sector Recovery Programme.
The lack of adequate power is costing the national economy to lose significant revenue (estimated loss to GDP in excess of US$ 25 billion) annually.
In context, this is 6 percent of the 2018 nominal GDP.
3. Fuel Subsidy (N462.09bn):
Subsidizing fuel consumption has cost Nigeria N462.09bn in the first nine months of 2019 according to NNPC data.
A projection by Businessday shows the amount will cross a half-trillion mark by around N100bn this year.
Cheap fuel has been a major bone of contention with proponents of subsidy arguing that already improvised Nigerians would suffer if they paid in full for fuel, while opponents seek for better utilisation of fund.
In context, President Buhari in his 2020 budget presentation proposed N48bn for Education and N46bn for Health. Both items combined are five times less the amount already spent on fuel subsidy.
4. NNPC refineries loss (N111.27bn):
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) reported a loss of N111.27bn for three refineries in the nine months to September this year.
The loss-making refineries are the Warri refinery, Port Harcourt refinery, and Kaduna refinery.
It should be stated that Nigeria relies on foreign sources to refinery its crude oil which is then imported back into the county at a subsidized rate.
Read also: Again, Kyari says Nigeria will end fuel importation 2023
In context, 111.27bn will pay the minimum wage of 3.7 million workers.
5. Paying Bribes (N675bn):
Nigerians spent over half-a-trillion paying bribes in 2019 according to a survey by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which involved 33,000 households and 33,067 respondents across all states of the country and the FCT.
In context: If the same amount was shared among Nigerians, everyone would get N3,375.
Nigerians spent over half-a-trillion paying bribes in 2019 according to a survey by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which involved 33,000 households and 33,067 respondents across all states of the country and the FCT
