Poverty amidst massive allocations

Recently, the federal government disclosed rather effusively that it released a total sum of N1trn to Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for capital projects as captured in the 2016 budget.
The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who made the disclosure, said the feat was unprecedented as it would go down as the highest ever in the history of budgetary funding for capital projects in the country since attaining nationhood. But the disclosure is coming on the heels of the end of the first quarter of this year amidst the self-inflicted economic downdown.

Without equivocation, the economic condition of Nigerians in the past one or so years has been everything but pleasant. The economic recession declared by the federal government in July last year has virtually crippled the purchasing power of the average Nigerian and made life very miserable despite the injection of the huge amount of money into the system with a view to re-inflating it.

The persistent hardship has driven many into despair and depression with tragic consequences as witnessed lately in some parts of the country.
According to Adeosun, the amount was released for various projects including the commencement of the construction of a dual standard railway line that would link Lagos and Kano, rehabilitation of roads, expanding irrigation facilities to boost agriculture and the upgrading of aviation infrastructure throughout the country.

The minister, who disclosed the figure in an interactive meeting with members of the House of Representatives Tactical Committee on Recession in her office in Abuja, said that the components of the releases included aggregate releases to the MDAs of N870,055,792,283.00 as at the end of February 2017 and additional  releases of N65,393,920,000.

Adeosun further gave the breakdown as follows: Manual Authority to Incur Expenditures (AIEs) in February 2017 in the sum of N11,179,173,711.42,  additional AIEs worth N45,804,709,077.20 as at March 13, 2017 and overall capital releases totaling  N992,433,595,071.42. While informing her guests that the monies have made impact on the Nigerian economy by creating jobs, stimulating economic activities in communities and upgrading infrastructure, she pointed out that contractors returning to project sites have employed workers and contributed to economic growth.

Still, Nigerians are not convinced that their wellbeing has improved in the last quarter. Presently, cost of living is all time high, falling far below the internationally accepted standard. This worrisome state of affairs is blamed on the unstable exchange rates in a country that operates a mono-economy with high dependence on all manner of imported goods.
However, given the continuing decline in the standard of living, it has become imperative for the government to beam the searchlight on the MDAs to establish how judiciously the monies released to them are used. This is because as public institutions through which government implements its policies and programmes, the MDAs are key to turning the economy around, consequently improving the wellbeing of Nigerians if they live up to their mandate. Had the MDAs taken the issue of improving the wellbeing of the people and boosting the economy through their operations seriously, the N1trn transmitted through it ought to have made a significant impact on the economy in the first quarter of this year.

Nevertheless, it would be unfair to this administration not to commend some of its decisions towards economic transformation and other reforms articulated towards mitigating the current economic woes. We urge the government to take urgent steps to review its processes of releasing funds for capital projects with the aim of ensuring transparency, commitment and full implementation.
Undoubtedly, such an approach would make the government more open to the public, stimulate economic growth as well as restore sagging public confidence. It should as well evolve methods of achieving faster and more sustainable socio-economic growth and improve the wellbeing of Nigerians.

Leave a Reply