It is now three weeks and two days since the Rivers State 2013 Appropriation Bill was presented to the state House of Assembly by Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.

Originally scheduled to fall on almost the same December date as the 2012 budget reading, this year’s presentation seemed to have come a little late, particularly considering that Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti and a few other states were already signing their budgets into law.

Again, not that it really matters in economics or law, the 2013 proposed budget doesn’t seem to have come with a working title. As has always been the tradition with federal and state budget proposals, each of these yearly income and expenditure plans is usually accompanied by an appropriate tag to suggest a focus for its implementation.

For instance, this year’s Federal Government Appropriation Bill has been tagged ‘Budget of Consolidation With Inclusive Growth.’ In 2010, Rivers State budget was entitled ‘Budget of Consolidation’; that of 2011 found a fitting sobriquet in ‘Budget of Transformation’; while last year’s was dubbed ‘Budget of Resource Utilisation’.

The 2013 Economic Outlook, as projected in the document, really calls for caution. Indeed, the partial removal of petrol subsidy, insecurity in the North, the nationwide flood disaster, hike in electricity tariff and depreciation of the Naira, have exerted an inflationary pressure on the Nigerian economy. And, as rightly predicted in the budget, this collective toll may continue to push up prices of goods and services in the new year.

Based on the above assumption, the budget has tried to cushion its estimates from the vagaries of the international crude oil market. Predicated on a benchmark price of $65 per barrel as against the Federal Government’s $75, the bill allows for a $10 safety net (even though the document stated this as $19). Let’s also consider the fact that the National Assembly has since rejected the Executive’s proposed oil price and is most likely to adopt $79.

In its Review Of 2012 Budget, the government submitted that part of the funding for last year’s expenditures came from ‘Proposed Bond/Loans of N100 billion.’ Yet under the subheading which dealt with how the state intends to finance the 2013 budget, the document talks of the state’s intention to approach the capital market in the first quarter of 2013 and conclude our first Bond issuance for N100 billion…

This can only suggest that the proposed funding from a mixture of bond and loans in 2012 eventually came from loans alone. No bond issuance.

In terms of Agriculture, there is no doubt that this subsector has best demonstrated the present administration’s strategy of developing the state through public private partnership arrangements. What with the jaw-dropping Songhai Farm Initiative in Bunu-Tai, the partnership with a Belgian firm, SIAT Nigeria Limited, to revamp Risonpalm and the contract with Israel’s LR Group for the establishment and operation of Agro Industrial Farms in parts of the state.

Even so, yearly appropriations to this subsector have always fallen short of public expectation. In fact, their paltry sizes had often served to ensure that such figures hardly got a mention in budget reviews.

Though still meagre, especially if we consider that the 2013 Budget is partially planked on Building Agriculture as the main driver of our subnational economic growth and job creation, the N4.3 billion allocation to Agriculture is better seen as the beginning of a bold return.

The new budget proposal also states the government’s commitment to build a refinery at Ikpokiri and for which N25.16 billion was earmarked and fully appropriated in 2012.  Cheering news, though, but it is also apparent that no subsector has witnessed the kind of commitment that is being accorded in Education, Health, Works and Power in the state. Yet, the 2012 Budget review indicates that out of the N64 billion set aside for Education, only N18.25 billion had been spent as at November. This simply translates to 28.5 per cent with just four months to the end of the budget year.

Same goes for the expansion work at the state-owned Auto-Disable-Syringe factory for which N18 billion was earmarked and only N1.93 billion disbursed, an equivalent of 10.7 per cent.

Other than these, the N490.321 billion estimate appears robust and even looks set to surpass the N499 billion Lagos State budget should the Rivers lawmakers who have already opened debate on the bill consider giving the proposed aggregate a slight push northward.

Ibelema Jumbo