President Buhari
The Federal Government has reduced the N37bn budget for the renovation of the National Assembly complex to N27.7bn.
The Federal Government, in the 2020 revised budget proposal, according
to documents obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday, cut N9.3bn from
the budget for the renovation of the National Assembly complex.
The renovation of the complex at the initial cost of N37bn, which is to
be executed by the Federal Capital Territory Administration, attracted
criticisms from a large section of Nigerians last year.
However, following the drop in the price of crude oil and a fall in the
projected government revenue, it was learnt that the Federal Government
decided to reduce the budget for the renovation.
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), had on Thursday
presented the 2020 Appropriation Act (amendment) Bill to the National
Assembly, which both the Senate and the House passed for second reading
same day.
Buhari explained that the amendment became necessary in view of the
sharp decline in crude oil prices and the cut in Nigeria’s crude oil
production quota occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Basic health care slashed by 42.5 per cent
In the proposed revised budget, while the National Assembly complex
renovation budget was reduced to N27.7bn (a reduction of 25.1 per
cent), the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, which is meant to cater for
all the primary healthcare centres across the 774 local government
areas in the country, was significantly reduced by N44.4bn to N25.5bn, a
decrease of more than 42.5 per cent
The BHCPF is made up of one per cent of the Federal Government
Consolidated Revenue from international partners such as the World Bank,
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the United States Agency for
International Development.
It is the fundamental funding provision under the National Health Act
and was appropriated for the first time in the 2018 budget since the Act
was signed in 2014.
UBE fund reduced by over 54.25%
The Universal Basic Education fund was also reduced significantly from
N111.7bn to N51.1bn, by more than 54.2 per cent, according to documents
obtained by Dataphyte, an open data organisation.
The UBE is a reform programme aimed at providing greater access to quality basic education throughout Nigeria.
It seeks to ensure an uninterrupted access to nine-year formal education
by providing free, and compulsory basic education for every child of
school-going age.
N’Assembly, NJI’s allocations cut by 10%
Incidentally, the budget for the National Assembly which was N128bn was
cut by only 10 per cent, bringing its revised total budget to N115.2bn.
The same calculation was applied to the National Judicial Council as its
N110bn original budget was reduced by just 10 per cent, bringing it
down to N99bn.
Cut in critical sectors’ allocations, a setback – Dataphyte
Speaking with The PUNCH on Tuesday, the Founder, Dataphyte, Mr Joshua
Olufemi, described the cuts in critical sectors like education and
health as a setback to Nigeria’s quest for development.
Olufemi said, “But the bigger dilemma borders on Nigeria’s priority.
While budgetary allocations to the National Judicial Council, National
Assembly, Independent National Electoral Commission, and other agencies
of government have been reduced only by about 10 per cent respectively,
budgetary provision for education is reduced by close to 55 per cent.
“Similarly, provision for basic health care fund is reduced by
over 42 per cent. With the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic, reduction
in budgetary share for education and healthcare does not reflect the
prioritisation of the citizen’s real needs.
“With the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the country, an increase
in budget share to the health sector is expected. To expand education
access to the teeming Nigerian schoolchildren who are deprived of
education during this period, additional budgetary commitment is also
required. This is to cover up the cost of setting up virtual learning
alternatives.”
It’s shameful, says CACOL
In his comment, the Executive Chairman, Centre for Anti-Corruption and
Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, said it was unfortunate that Nigeria,
which is the poverty capital of the world, would relegate the health and
education sectors.
Adeniran said Nigeria had one of the highest maternal and mortality
rates in the world as well as out of school children and the government
ought to give priority to health and education.
He said, “Why should we waste N27bn on building that is not showing
any sign of distress? It is a misplaced priority and a total waste. The
National Assembly doesn’t need repainting let alone renovation.
“Nigeria is the poverty capital in the world despite being one of the
most endowed countries. It is the misplaced of priorities that brought
us to this sorry state we found ourselves.
“Nigerians are dying from treatable and preventable diseases and the
government thinks it is right to slash the health budget while
maintaining the N27bn for renovation? It is a shame.”
N27bn allocation for N’Assembly renovation, injustice to Nigerians – HDA
Also speaking to The PUNCH, the Executive Director of Human and
Development Agenda, Lanre Suraj, said Buhari could not claim not to be
aware of the injustice being done to Nigerians.
Suraj said reducing the health budget showed that the government had not learnt any lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said, “It will be very difficult to absolve the President of the
blame. This is a disservice to young people and Nigerians in general. It
is obvious the government doesn’t have the interest of the masses at
heart.
“The pandemic has exposed the poor state of the public health centres as
they have failed to meet up to standard in the pandemic. To reduce the
basic health care fund by almost 50 per cent and then maintain the
budget for National Assembly complex renovation which has no bearing on
the people is a betrayal of trust and all citizens must reject it.”
When contacted on the telephone, the Special Adviser on Media and
Communications, Yunusa Abdullahi, asked our correspondent to send a text
message so he could respond appropriately. He had yet to respond as of
press time.
In December last year, there was outrage over N37bn budgeted for the renovation amid dwindling allocations to important sectors.
Curiously, before the budget was reviewed, while N37bn was budgeted for
the repair of the National Assembly complex, N36.6 billion was allocated
for the repair of federal roads.
But the Senate had said the outrage was misplaced on the grounds that
the National Assembly leadership played no role either in the approval,
the execution or the cost of the project.
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Source: The PUNCH