By this time next week, another year would have rolled in and the fear of crossover to a new year varnished. The expectation will be what the new year holds for individuals and the nation. Today, however, we are still building up the expectation of how to cope with the coming year given the recent pronouncement by government officials. It is in that context that it becomes imperative to discuss some happenings in the past week. In this connection, four important topics are of interest. These are the proposed approval of the 2022 budget by the National Assembly which was increased; the Development Plans by Oyo State; the approval of a road contract to NNPC; the Federal Government’s destruction of expired COVID-19 vaccines.
Budget 2022
It was reported in the middle of last week that the National Assembly was transmitting a 2022 budget of N17.126 trillion to the President for his assent as against the proposed N16.391 trillion he presented to the Assembly. To accommodate the increase, the NASS raised the oil benchmark from $57 per barrel in the proposal to $62 per barrel. What informed the increase is not clearly stated except that NASS envisages that oil prices will likely rise in the course of the year given the recent positive trend in world oil prices. Some of the factors that should inform consideration of the budget by the National Assembly include the state of the revenue generation accrual or the budget performance from the revenue and expenditures for the on-going year; the level of indebtedness and the current level of growth cum projected growth rate for the year under consideration.
Of course, the Assembly should also consider public opinion, particularly issues raised on the budget with respect to spurious items in the budget such as duplication of workshops by MDAs, costs of some items and programmes like foreign travels, feeding and foreign health tourism. If these factors were considered by NASS, it would not have increased the proposed budget but encouraged supplementary budget whenever the situation improves with the easing of deleterious effects of COVID-19 globally, particularly if the economy is moving towards the predicted economic growth of four per cent. As it were, the National Assembly has already made provision for more loans, increased taxes on both individuals and businesses as well as ‘subsidy removal.’ Nigerians must brace up for more hardship while the leadership continues to live in affluence since the reduction of the budget would have resulted in sacrifice from both sides.
Development Plan: Oyo State vs Federal Government
Both the Federal Government and the Oyo State government announced the birth of economic plans. Both claimed to have produced long-term economic plans of five-year and 25-year respectively. The Federal Government is wrong while Oyo State is right. An economic plan of a five-year period these days can be regarded, at best, as a medium-term plan. Long-term economic plans start from probably 20 years. Up till the early 1990s, a five-year plan could go for a long-term plan but all that has changed. That is why plans like the Millennium Development Goals were designed to last for 15 years and same with the successor, the Sustainable Development Goals. Our Vision 2010 and Vision 20:2020 were clearly for over five years. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa also showed the way by producing, in conjunction with ADB and AU, a 50-year economic plan tagged Agenda 2063.
In a March 2016 newspaper publication, I suggested the need for a sustainable economic plan spanning over 20 years and in The PUNCH of July 30, 2019, while commenting on CBN’s five-year plan, I advocated for a long-term plan stating that “the country requires structural transformation which firm foundation must be based on a long-term national plan with appropriate flexibility, veracity and sound judgement.” That is what Nigeria as a country and the states as component parts require. That is what Oyo State has done. As a country, we should focus on where the country should be in 2050 and beyond. How we will get there, the domestic and foreign resources to be committed to the projects and programmes as we move towards the 2050 destination, all would be clearly stated in the long-term National Plan.
To produce the long-term plan should not take much more resources now that we have the five-year plan, so let us start work on it immediately. Just as Oyo State is planning to take its own through public hearings and the state assembly, the Federal Government should also do the same seeking comments on the draft from various professional bodies and finally asking the National Assembly to debate and adopt it for the nation.
Approval of road contract to NNPC
A Memorandum of Understanding between NNPC and the Ministry of Works and Housing was signed last week for the construction and completion of 21 roads with 1,800 kilometres at the humongous sum of N621 billion or at N345 million per kilometre! The report on the project stated that the roads were not new projects and are critical to the distribution of petroleum products across the country. So, there are special roads that petrol tankers ply? When I asked Google how much it costs to construct one kilometre of road in Nigeria, the response reads “Nigeria is obviously the highest with 40% or more (over other African countries). Therefore, our calculations show that the cost of road construction in Nigeria is between N300 million to N1.5 billion per kilometre. The cost of road maintenance, on the other hand, varies from about N100 million to N1 billion per kilometre!” The roads we are talking about here are not ‘new projects.’
During the presidential retreat early this year, the President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, pointed out for effect “the cost of exporting 100 tonnes of cargo in Nigeria is $35,000, compared to $4,000 in Ghana,” thus “…the leading ports for West Africa are in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Benin Republic. All these countries have modernised their port management system, leaving Nigeria far behind.” Those who are concerned ought to have analysed this statement for the benefit of the country. If that was done, nobody would be awarding the kind of contract that is being awarded by NNPC and the Ministry of Works. That is the nature of the leadership running this country. They do not care about working hard to generate revenue but are interested in easy ways of revenue collection through taxes and levies and awarding humongous contracts for self-aggrandisement or enrichment with the ultimate goal of oppressing and pauperising the citizens. These kinds of contract awards are part of the oversight functions of the National Assembly but practically, we have seen that they are also involved in carrying out contracts. Whom do we run to?
Destruction of expired COVID-19 vaccines
The report that over one million doses of expired vaccines were destroyed by the health agency in charge of managing the COVID-19 programmes was disheartening. Was it because we did not pay for it? Was it because the quantity we had was in excess of what was required or needed? Why did it happen? All we heard was that Nigeria was not the only country where it happened. That is not an excuse. It is bad management and part of the I don’t care attitude of leadership. That was how the food and possibly drugs supplied as palliative at the onset of COVID-19 was hoarded until many warehouses were burgled during the #EndSARS protests. The vaccines must have been hoarded in the like manner. Many of us were looking for second doses many weeks after it was due while some others were looking for the first dose, only to find that they were hoarded somewhere. How do you want those who paid for the vaccine and donated them to feel? We have to agree that it should never happen again. Wastefulness is an economic crime and should be avoided by all means. The feelings of the citizens must always count.
The past week witnessed lots of issues that require attention but we cannot cover them all in a piece like this. For example, some banks were reportedly cash strapped. NNPC is reported to be making huge revenue from the sale of petroleum, kerosene and diesel, yet it is talking of removing subsidy instead of building new refineries even as a joint venture. Government officials were said to syphon government funds under the cover of paying ransoms; 77 oil and gas firms are supposed to pay N2.6 trillion to the government according to NEITI but the government is running after poor citizens to pay more levies and taxes. Lots of issues but little time. Nigeria needs deliverance – from who?
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