Budget And Primacy Of Politics

On December 13, 2011, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan presented a budget of N4.749 trillion to the National Assembly for the 2012 fiscal year.  The budget rose by about 5.66 per cent (N249 billion) above that of 2011 which was N4.48 trillion.  The budget will focus on some sensitive areas with security, power, works, education, health, agriculture and rural development getting N921.91 billion, N161.42 billion, N180.80 billion, N400.15 billion, N282.77 billion and N78.98 billion respectively.

While the allocations to many sectors of the economy increased significantly, the budget for Niger Delta fell from N100.2 billion in 2011 to N59.72 billion for 2012.  The rationale for such a drastic cut in the budgetary allocation to the Niger Delta, the economic engine of the Nigerian nation, is not really the concern of this piece.

The concern here is that budgets laboriously prepared and defended with fanfare and fiasco are dumped or put in the shelf soon after the exercise is completed.  In 2009, Professor Jubril Aminu was reported to have observed that the Federal Government’s refusal to implement annual budgets was destroying the country’s economy and stifling its development efforts.

In his words: “It is very sad that we never had any proper budget implementation.  This is at both federal and state levels.  I think the federal and state governments unfortunately have been running one-line budgets.  There is no evidence that they were spending money according to the budget”.

Indeed, since the country gained independence, the funds approved for project execution have not been judiciously utilized, and the executive has hardly complied with budget provision.

Worse still, proper planning regarding how budgets are to be effectively implemented is  usually not made before their preparation and presentation to the legislature.

The implementation of the country’s budgets over the years has always been put at between 20 per cent and 40 per cent.  This woeful situation has always been blamed on, among others things, the delay in the passage of the appropriation bills by the National Assembly and the failure of the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to understand, early enough, the Public Procurement Act  introduced by the government.

All these are plausible explanations for budget failure in Nigeria.  But the crux of the matter is that instead of spending money in line with approved budgets, governments quite often are more inclined to fulfilling promises contained in political addresses which focus on dramatic short-term innovations and declarations delivered to satisfy divergent psychological needs and expectations of the time.

It is in the light of this ugly situation of primacy of politics i.e political experience and spontaneity or decisional adhocism- which characterizes public policy decision making process in the country that one can fully understand why budgets do not stimulate participatory development.

Budget is the key instrument through which elected officials and the power elite are expected to choose what services are to be provided by government and which areas are to be left to the private sector of the economy.  It is also the principal instrument of fiscal policy for encouraging stable growth, sustainable development, prosperity, and optimum employment in the economy.

Besides, budget spells out the degree of activities and costs as well as the specific programmes required for the implementation of the programmes.  As stated by President Jonathan in his 2012 budget speech at the National Assembly: “This budget is a stepping -stone to the  transformation of our economy and country in our walk to economic freedom.  This esteemed Assembly would agree that this path would neither be easy nor uncontested; but with a sharp focus, hard work, determination and making careful choices we will overcome”.

Whether these words will be matched with action or political considerations will still be allowed to outweigh rational-technical questions in the implementation of the 2012 budget, only the months ahead will tell.

The expectations of Nigerians are rising yearly.  They look up to the National Assembly to ensure effective and efficient implementation of this year’s budget.  They expect to see copies of the budget when it is passed and signed into law in the streets and other public places.  It is only in this way that they can obtain copies, study the provisions, and participate meaningfully in the economic activities of the country.

Suffice it to say that sound annual budget preparation and implementation calls for hard choices made at a cost, or postponed at a far greater cost.

Primacy of politics often leads to postponing these hard rational-technical choices and the consequence is less effective and efficient budget process.