The Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce,
Industry, Mines and Agriculture (PHCCIMA), has criticised the 2012 federal
budget, alleging that most of the sectoral allocations are injurious to
government’s economic transformation agenda.

PHCCIMA President, Vincent Furo, described
as inadequate, budgetary allocations to eight of the 15 sectors of the economy,
saying that the allocations will not promote private sector participation,
growth and much-needed security, especially in the Niger Delta region.

Furo, an engineer, made the assertions,
Tuesday in a paper he presented at the 2012 Enpowerment Economic/Business
conference organised by the Sam Ohuabunwa Foundation for Economic Empowerment
(SOFEE) in partnership with PHCCIMA.

In his paper titled: “Business Survival in
a Deregulated Economy”, the PHCCIMA President identified the 2012 federal
budgetary allocations to Agriculture (78.98bn), Water Resources ((N39bn),
Aviation (N49.23bn) and Transport (N54.83bn) as grossly inadequate.

Also suffering from inadequate budgetary
provisions Furo said, were Land and Housing (N26.49bn), Science and Technology
(N30.84bn), Communication Technology (N18.31bn) and Niger Delta (N61bn).

Furo argued that agriculture deserved
better allocation considering government’s desire to achieve food sufficiency
while the dearth of potable drinking water nationwide recommended the sector
for special funding.

He said the obsolete standard of the
nation’s airports and the antiquated and unsafe Nigerian transport sector ought
to have informed higher budgetary allocations than the aviation and transport
sectors received.

The allocations to Land and Housing as well
as to Communication Technology, were also poor, the PHCCIMA boss said, arguing
that the housing crisis across the nation and the need for Nigeria to properly
position itself in an ICT-driven global economy ought to have informed better
allocations to the sectors.

Furo was also saddened that Niger Delta whose
crude oil and gas endowments account for over 85 percent of the nation’s
revenue and which is still ravaged by the side-effects of oil and gas
exploration and exploitation, received only N61bn allocation.

Questioning the rationale for the Jumbo
vote to security (N921.91bn) while Nigerians appear helplessly vulnerable in
the face of unending fatal attacks by the Boko Haram Sect, the PHCCIMA
President said the allocation to the Niger Delta was grossly inadequate to
provide infrastructure, improve welfare and gurantee peace and investment.

He urged the federal government to
effectively deregulate the economy and allow the private sector assume the
driving seat in the development of the nation’s economy, Furo also made a case
for the review of the allocations to the aforementioned critical sectors to
enable the 2012 budget achieve its target.

Earlier, founder of SOFEE, Mazi Sam
Ohuabunwa had noted that the private sector remained the engine room that
drives economic growth.

He said it was the role of government to
make policies which the entrepreneurs leverage on to push the frontiers of
economic growth.

Ohuabunwa noted however that there appears
a disconnect between government policies and its execution.

SOFEE, he said, was committed to  resolving the bottlenecks in the way of the
nation’s economic growth through the empowerment of individuals and
stakeholders with needed information.

The theme of the one-day conference which
attracted stakeholders from the private sector, Federal Ministries and
Parastatals was: “Budget 2012 and the Economic Transformation Agenda”.

Donald Mike-Jaja