Victor EzejaA development economist, Dr Boniface Chizea, has urged the Nigerian government to adopt a three-year budgeting system as a way of resolving the challenge of meeting up with the implementation of all financial appropriations within the budget cycle.
Dr Chizea, who is the CEO of BIC Consultancy Services, said the measure would enable the government to have enough time to implement appropriations for capital expenditure that could take time to source its funding.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelChizea, who appeared as guest on Channels Television Sunrise Daily programme on Thursday morning, made the call while reacting to the extension of the implementation period for the N18.12 trillion 2022 budget to March 31, 2023.
Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, had written to the Senate requesting an extension of the implementation period for the 2022 budget from December 2022 (when the budget cycle supposes to end) to March 2023.
The budget in line with provisions of clause 12 of the Appropriation Act and section 318 of the 1999 constitution which stipulates 12 calendar months for implementation of the budget in any fiscal year, ought to have ended on December 31, 2022, having started on January 1, 2022.
In the letter read by President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, on Wednesday, Buhari said due to the late release of funds, the implementation of the capital appropriations before the December 31 deadline may not be feasible, hence, the need for an extension.
President Buhari’s letter read: “I write to request your consideration for an amendment into the 2022 Act expression clause 12, as passed and assented to.
“The 2022 Appropriation Act states, in line with the provisions of section 318 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, this Bill expires after 12 months starting from January, 1 to December 31, 2022, one assented to.
“The proposed 2022 appropriation supplementary budget submitted to National Assembly for consideration as well as recent 2022 capital releases to MDAs are not likely to be utilized before December, 31st, 2022 due to the late release of the funds which will lapse if the capital implementation is not extended beyond December 2022.
“In the light of the above, the National Assembly is requested to amend the 2022 Acts expression clause to reflect March 31, 2023, for the capital components only”.
Lawan in his remarks said that an extension given the implementation period of the 2022 budget to March 31, 2023 would provide the required time for implementation of the N819.5 billion 2022 Supplementary budget raised by the President.
Reacting to that, Dr. Chizea said it would be better to roll it over to the 2023 budget, adding that such an extension makes a mockery of the principle of maintaining the January to December budget cycle.
Chizea’s position echoed the view of Senator Muhammad Ali Ndume, APC, Borno South, who called for caution in view of the shortness of available time, noting that it will not be possible to implement it within the 90-day period.
“Mr President, my worry about this extension and supplementary budget is the reality of what we are doing.
“N819.5 billion 2022 supplementary budget targeted for implementation during the extended period should have been merged with the 2023 budget which will also be passed today.
“Is not possible for the N819.5 billion supplementary budget to be implemented within 90 days from now. Let’s not deceive ourselves but if the Senate wants to go ahead, so be it,” Ndume stated on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday.
Chizea on his part said the government needs to have a rolling budgeting system to avoid issues of extension of the implementation period.
He said “We should have a rolling budgeting system. There was a time we had that in this country. We had a three-year budget system and all these extensions and so on would not be there. It should be a relic of the past. What you don’t spend, you roll over.”
He said the extension of the implementation period for the 2023 budget makes a mockery of the claim that the country is maintaining the January to December budget cycle.
“What we should do is have a three-year rolling budgeting system whereby what we could not implement in the first year goes into the second year. Actually, when you have capital expenditures, it is difficult to predict how you are going to get them financed. Sometimes, it is very difficult to have capital expenditure that you can completely implement within one year. Sometimes, you could have issues with releases and so on and so forth.
“What I think we should really do is to have a three-year implementation plan so that all these would be cleared off the table,” Chizea advised.
The senate also approved the 2023 Appropriation Bill.
The budget was increased from N20.5 trillion presented by President Muhammadu Buhari in October, to N21.8 trillion (21,827,188,747,391). This shows an increase of over N1.3 trillion.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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