We will pursue the recovery of everything that belongs to the people of Nigeria. No matter where it is hidden. No matter how long it will take – Buhari
Presented Muhammad Buhari has presented a N6.08 trillion budget for the fiscal year 2016 before a joint session of the National Assembly.
In the budget, capital expenditure takes N1.8 trillion, marking a significant over 300 percent increment from the 2015 vote of N557 billion.
According to the estimate, N396 billion is voted for education, being the largest sectoral allocation, while the health sector gets N296 billion while defence has N294 billion.
This is the first in three years a Nigerian President would personally present a budget before the National Assembly, the approach that earned President Buhari commendation by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, who joked that he had expected the President to tweet or email the budget details.
The last two budgets were presented on behalf of then President Goodluck Jonathan by the then Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
In his speech, Buhari said he was aware Nigerians were losing confidence in the government, but promised that the 2016 budget would address the problems.
Bihari said he was aware that the state of the economy is a source of concern for many, stating that this has been further worsened by the unbridled corruption and security challenges faced in the last few years.
“From those who have lost their jobs, to those young people who have never had a job, to the people in the North East whose families and businesses were destroyed by insurgents, this has been a difficult period in our nation’s history, lessons that we must not forget or ignore, as we plan for the future.
“By June 2014, oil prices averaged $112 per barrel. But as at today, the price is under $39 per barrel. This huge decline is having a painful effect on our economy. Consumption has declined at all levels. In both the private and public sectors, employers have struggled to meet their salary and other employee related obligations. The small business owners and traders have been particularly hard hit by this state of affairs.
“Fellow Nigerians, the confidence of many might be shaken. However, I stand before you today promising that we will secure our country, rebuild our economy, and make the Federal Republic of Nigeria stronger than it has ever been,” he said.
The president, however, assured that the answers to the “problems are not beyond us. They exist on our farmlands; our corporations; in the universities in the hearts and minds of our entrepreneurs; through the gallantry of our Armed Forces; and the resolute spirit of Nigerians, especially the youth, who have refused to give up despite all the obstacles confronting them.
“This Budget proposal, the first by our Government, seeks to stimulate the economy, making it more competitive by focusing on infrastructural development; delivering inclusive growth; and prioritizing the welfare of Nigerians.
“We believe that this budget, while helping industry, commerce and investment to pick up, will as a matter of urgency, address the immediate problems of youth unemployment and the terrible living conditions of the extremely poor and vulnerable Nigerians.”
In the medium to longer term, the president said that his government remains committed to economic diversification through import substitution and export promotion. “This will build resilience in our economy. It will guarantee that the problems we have today, will not confront our children and their children. This shall be our legacy for generations to come.”
President Buhari said that while it is widely acknowledged that the global economy has slowed down, particularly the case with emerging markets such as Nigeria, he, however, said that “despite the weak emerging market growth rates, our domestic security challenges, declining oil prices, and the attendant difficulties in providing foreign exchange to meet market demands, the Nigerian economy grew by 2.84 percent in the third quarter of 2015.
“We have, and will continue to implement strategies that will maintain macroeconomic stability and manage the oil price shocks we are experiencing.”
He said that upon the inauguration of his administration on 29th May 2015, the government engaged key stakeholders from various sectors of our economy and interfaced with the heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in order to understand the true state of our nation, stating that “what we found prompted us to take certain strategic decisions.”
On the economy, the president said that the government injected new leadership at the helm of our revenue generating agencies including the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).
“We implemented the Treasury Single Account (TSA) which, so far, has provided greater visibility of Government revenues and cash flows. We intervened to support States to navigate their fiscal challenges by restructuring their commercial bank loans and by providing facilities to enable them to pay salary arrears.
“We have demonstrated a strong will to fight corruption. I am sure you will agree that the sheer scale of corruption and impunity of the past explains in part, the economic challenges we now face. On these initiatives, and the many more to come, we shall not be deterred. We will pursue the recovery of everything that belongs to the people of Nigeria. No matter where it is hidden. No matter how long it will take.”
The president said that the 2016 budget, as outlined, is designed to ensure that “we revive our economy, deliver inclusive growth to Nigerians and create a significant number of jobs.
“We aim to ensure macroeconomic stability by achieving a real GDP growth rate of 4.37 percent and managing inflation. To achieve this, we will ensure the aligning of fiscal, monetary, trade and industrial policies.
“As we focus on inclusive growth, we are conscious of the current rate of unemployment and underemployment. This is a challenge we are determined to meet; and this budget is the platform for putting more Nigerians to work.
“I can assure you that this administration will have a job creation focus in every aspect of the execution of this budget. Nigeria’s job creation drive will be private sector led. We will encourage this by a reduction in tax rates for smaller businesses as well as subsidized funding for priority sectors such as agriculture and solid minerals.”
As an emergency measure, to address the chronic shortage of teachers in public schools across the country, the president said that the federal government will partner with State and Local Governments to recruit, train and deploy 500,000 unemployed graduates and NCE holders.
These graduate teachers, he said, will be deployed to primary schools, thereby, enhancing the provision of basic education especially in our rural areas.
“We also intend to partner with State and Local Governments to provide financial training and loans to market women, traders and artisans, through their cooperative societies. We believe that this segment of our society is not only critical to our plan for growing small businesses, but it is also an important platform to create jobs and provide opportunities for entrepreneurs.”
He said that through the office of the Vice President, the government is working with various development partners to design an implementable and transparent conditional cash transfer programme for the poorest and most vulnerable.
“This programme will be implemented in phases. Already, the compilation of registers of the poorest persons is ongoing. In the coming weeks, we will present the full programme, which will include our home-grown public primary school feeding and free education for science, technology and education students in our tertiary institutions. Indeed, this will mark a historic milestone for us as a nation.”
While delivering his vote of thanks, Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house of representatives, says the national assembly will hold President Muhammadu Buhari to every word and provision in the 2016 budget.
Dogara assured the president that the national assembly would pass the budget in good time and said the assembly would work towards prescribing a 12-month financial year to enhance the full implementation of the budget.
“The national assembly may need to prescribe another date as the financial year in line with provisions of section 3 (18) of the constitution whenever the budget is not passed before January 1 of any given year.
“The letter and spirit of the constitution requires that the financial shall not be less than 12 months. The date of the commencement of the financial year may change, but not the 12-month period as prescribed in the constitution.
“Consequently, if this proposal is accepted it may become imperative that the 2016 budget may commence 12 months from the day it is signed into law by Mr President. The budget will only have a realistic chance of implementation when the executive have 12 uninterrupted months to executive it.
“In the spirit of change that has come to the legislature, we promise Nigerians to hold Mr President to every word and provisions of the budget when passed and assented to,” Dogara said.
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