Those who mangled the 2016 budget proposal, now before the National Assembly, had one other major intention, apart from hoping to massively defraud Nigerians. That other intention was to bring the entire anti-corruption war, championed by President Muhammadu Buhari, to a complete disrepute. By padding the proposed costs of items and services, directly beneficial to the president’s office, among several others, they intended to cast a depressing slur, on the personal integrity of Mr President; which if it sticks, could completely derail the anti-corruption war, and in the long run, bring PMB’s entire presidency, to a dishonourable denouement.
Until the saboteurs are found and punished, how can the presidency justify budgeting a whopping N3.8 billion, for the state-house medical centre, with several hundreds of millions for building a new VIP wing, and for medical supplies? Unless the culprits own up, and clearly distance themselves from the presidency, how can a presidency which has vowed to kill corruption before it kills Nigeria, budget a dubious N213 million to link cables within the precincts of Aso Rock, or the other asinine N618 million proposal, to install electrical lightning and fittings within the presidential villa, or even the clearly insane plan, to spend N909 million to acquire and maintain brand new automobiles, in one fiscal year, for the presidency, when many states and even the federal government are owing salaries, to some of their workers?
To salvage the integrity of his presidency, which has been dented, PMB should quickly seek out all the officials, involved in this betrayal, and publicly and adequately punish them. Unfortunately, he may still have to rely on those who may be neck deep, in the show of shame, and they can simply point his attention in other directions. PMB must however realise, that some of his most ardent admirers, throughout his long years of struggle to become the president, may not share in his messianic zeal, to return Nigeria to the path of sanity, otherwise how can his core team, allow the fraudulent 2016 budget proposal, which is programmed to be an embarrassment to PMB’s greatest credential?
Talking of PMB’s economic team, may I respectfully inform Mr President, that many Nigerians believe that, either he has no economic team, or what he considers his economic team are grossly incompetent? Even a layman, can see that both the macro and micro economic policies, including the budget, have not been given adequate attention, like security and anti-corruption. While the monetary policies changes without notice, as they say, like the British weather; the living standards of an average Nigerian is in dire straits, and this is made worse by inflationary pressure on essential goods, even when there is paucity of disposable income.
Take the occupiers of the front-offices, of PMB’S economic team. First, the Central Bank Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, acts completely out-of-depth in the Central Bank. So far, he has not been able to envision a new macroeconomic policy, to rejuvenate the doddering national economy. His exchange rate policy, to stem dubious capital flight, unfortunately has not positively affected the exchange rate. Furthermore, there is no monetary policy to reflate the economy, for instance, through accelerated mortgage lending, low interest rate funds, for manufacturers and the agricultural sector, or indeed any other sectoral lending-preferences, to galvanise entrepreneurship.
Yet, while assuming responsibility, as Governor of Central Bank, in 2014, Emefiele had boasted, “Under my leadership, the bank will continue to focus on maintaining exchange rate stability and preserve the value of the domestic currency”. He had also raised the hope of Nigerians, when he said, “With an annual additional 1.8 million Nigerians to the labour pool, the Central Bank cannot afford to sit idly by and concentrate on price and monetary stability”, but instead, he promised, “additional measures would be required towards identifying productive sectors of the economy and channel credit towards these sectors, while imposing proper monitoring and performance measures in order to ensure that goals of increased employment and poverty reduction are maintained”.
Another key underperformer is the finance minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun. A finance minister is supposed to have a commanding overview of the national economy, and so should be in a position to explain the game plan to Nigerians. She should be in a position to help Mr President, articulate his vision into economic plans, determine a programme of action, set achievable timelines, source the funding, and be the main salesperson of the programme. The minister should also have an overall handle, not necessarily control, of the entire sectoral action-plan, and this would involve knowing and helping to articulate the plans of the ministries, so as to be able to gauge and explain their interwoven impact, on our nation’s gross domestic product. So far, Mrs Adeosun hasn’t shown the capacity for that high office.
The other minister who obviously has performed below par, so far, is the Minister for Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma (SAN). I hope Mr President has given him a query, to explain how our national budget has become an object of ridicule, and market-place gossip, arising from the gross negligence of his ministry, even on minor details, that even a clerk should have detected. In fairness to the learned silk, I doubt if his legal training prepared him for the odious task of preparing a fresh budget-template, after the 16 years of yearly “authority-stealing”, as the late inimitable icon, Fela, would appropriately tag our national budgets, in the past years. Unfortunately, under Udoma’s guide, the 2016 budget has more than anything, sought to situate the present government, as part of the old brigands.
Interestingly, last week, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Mrs Fatima Nana Mede, inaugurated the Technical Working Groups (TWGs) for the formalization of the first phase of the development of the Medium Term Success Strategic Plan (MTSS 2016-2020). According to the PS, “As you are aware, the development of the National Development Plan is the core mandate of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, which is expected to drive the change agenda of the present administration”. She also informed Nigerians, that “experience has shown that the implementation of credible medium term plan is critical to the success of any country”, adding that “several emerging nations are adopting development plans as basis for improving their economies”. PMB must ensure that it is not the same team that supervised the 2016 budget that is working on the MTSS 2016 -2020.
Nigerians acknowledge PMB’s odyssey in public service, so far. Clearly, he is not among the thieving elites that have turned our budget-cycle into a casino, with an open-secret winning number, shared among themselves. To clear-up the present debacle, Nigerians expect the President as a matter of urgent national importance, to thoroughly investigate the 2016 Budget mess, and punish those found culpable. PMB should also empanel an efficient economic team, to help him navigate the stormy waters of our failed national economy. While it is true that the departed buccaneers of the fallen Peoples Democratic Party share the major blame for our present economic morass, I doubt if the suffering masses, will continue to accept that fact, for their pernicious sufferings.
