Changes in 2024 Appropriation Parameters Affecting Budget Performance, Says NES President

•Senate panel screens Bakari as NFIU boss

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The President of the Nigerian Economic Society (NEC), Prof. Adeola Adenikinju, has said changes in the parametres which the 2024 national budget was predicated was already affecting the performances of the fiscal document, two months after it was signed into law.

Adenikinju stated this yesterday, at a workshop jointly organised by the NES in collaboration with the National Institute For Legislative And Democratic Studies in Abuja.

The one-day seminar was titled,  “the implementation of the 2024 Appropriation Act of the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

He said participants and the resource persons at the workshop were expected to provide practical and professional advice that would enable the federal government manage the situation to the advantage of Nigerians.

The Professor of Economics said, “As we all know, two months down the line, nearly all these parameters have changed significantly.

“These changes are likely to impacts on the actual revenues and expenditures of government, with likely effects on the capacity to implement the 2024 budget as passed.

“In addition, given the role public expenditure play in the production function of the private sector in Nigeria, significant divergence of the actual budget from the proposed budget would impact on the performance of the overall economy.

“What should the government do because of the unfolding developments? Is it too early for the government to worry about the implementation of the budget?

“What are the lessons of experience for future budgetary process? We must also note that some of the parameters have dual effects on the budget – positive and negative effects.

“Take for example the depreciation in the value of the naira. This has brought significant revenue flow to the cover of the government.

“However, it has also led to significant rise in inflation rate, making government expenditures – debt and non-debt costlier. 

“It has also led to pressures for increased wages and salaries by government workers and retirees.”

The economist noted that the  2024 budget was predicated on a total expenditure of N28.78 trillion and had a projected revenue of N19.7 trillion, implying a budget deficit of N10 trillion.

Other key parameters of the budget he said were: non-debt expenditure N8.76 trillion, debt service expenditure N8.2 trillion and capital expenditure N9.99 trillion

More importantly, he said, the budget was predicated on a number of assumptions about key parameters including oil price per barrel ($77.96); Oil production per day (1.78 million barrels per day); GDP growth rate (3.88%); Inflation rate (21.4%) and Exchange rate (N800/$)

He added, “Today’s seminar provides an important avenue for all Nigerians as critical stakeholders of the economy to analyse and review the implementation of the 2024 FGN Budget in the light of shifting global and domestic economic realities.

“The seminar would allow us to listen to two erudite scholars on their perspectives on the different aspects of the implementation of the 2024 FGN budget.”

The Director General of NILDS Prof Abubakar Sulaiman, said the seminar would provide insight on the kinds of challenges to anticipate for the 2024 fiscal year.

He said the participants would contextualise the implications for implementing the budget, and make recommendations on the way forward.

He added, “Another critical issue to be emphasized in this seminar is that it situates the budget as not just an input-and-output instrument for achieving one-year national objectives of the federal government.”

Rather, he said would also emphasise the role of the budget on outcome variables such as job creation and its impact on poverty eradication.

Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes has screened Hafsat Bakari as the Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, (NFIU).

Tinubu had last week appointed Bakari as the head of the Financial Intelligence Unit, pending her confirmation by the Senate.

By the appointment Bakari would replace Modibbo Tukur who was relieved of his job by Tinubu in June 2023.

Bakari is a lawyer and financial intelligence expert with years of experience in anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing, and counter-proliferation financing said she has “enough experience to discharge he duties”

Before her appointment as the Chief Executive Officer of the NFIU, she served as Deputy Director at the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, and was at different times the Head of the General Services Unit; Head of the Strategy and Reorientation Unit, and Head of the Board Secretariat of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

In a chat with newsmen after the screening, the Chairman Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, Senator Emmanuel Menga Udende, said  Bakare would bring her wealth of experience and expertise to bare in the discharge of her mandate in this critical role, especially in view of the President Bola Tinubu’s war against illicit financial flows and other sharp practices currently prevalent in segments of the nation’s foreign exchange markets.”