Nigeria’s President,
Muhammadu Buhari, has been been commended for reviewing upwards the capital vote of the 2016 Federal Budget.
The Public Relations officer Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, Port Harcourt, Mr Franklyn Ille gave this commendation in a chat with The Tide in Port Harcourt recently.
Ille, while commending President Buhari for raising the capital expenditure to 30 per cent from 15 per cent for the new year, stated that the 2016 budget if judiciously implemented was expected to carter for top national development priorities, expressing the hope that it would also help fill the huge infrastructure gap in the country.
He identified Public Private Partnership model as one of the tools that would help facilitate the development initiative of the President Buhari – led administration, while urging the government to conscientiously monitor the capital expenditure as a basis for ensuring that funds are not misdirected.
Furthermore, Ille noted that focusing on implementing policies would attract private capital, which he said would encourage investment and expansion of the nation’s revenue, adding that emphasis on diversification to non-oil sector would put the nation at an advantage following the unstable and discouraging activities in the oil sector.
He warned, however, that the $38 per barrel benchmark on which the budget was hinged was worrisome considering the unstable crude oil prices experienced in 2015, which he stated had adversely affected the strength of the naira and suggested that an exchange rate benchmark of N225 should be considered against the N197 proposed by the government.
He also expressed worry on the growing budgetary provisions for debt servicing, noting the report by the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) provision of N1.3 trillion for 2016 debt servicing commitments.

Tonye Nria-Dappa