Four months into the year, Acting President Goodluck Jonathan signs the 2010 budget into law, putting an end to the acrimony between the executive and legislature over budget figures

By HELEN ENI

The long wait for the national budget finally came to an end last week when Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s acting president, April 22, signed the budget into law. The acting president had withheld his ascent to the budget, which was passed by the National Assembly on March 25, pointing our some areas of disagreement. The National Assembly had raised the budget from the N4.07 proposed by President Umaru Yar’Adua on November 23, last year, shortly before he was flown to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.

The acting president eventually signed the N4.6 trillion for the 2010 fiscal year. The budget envisages a deficit of 1.52 trillion, representing 4.66 per cent of the gross domestic product, and it is based on an average oil price of $67 per barrel and oil production of 2.35 million barrels per day. About N180 billion is earmarked for statutory transfer, while N497 billion would be for debt servicing. The budget also has a figure of N2 trillion for recurrent expenditure and N1.85 trillion for capital expenditure. An economic growth rate of 5.47 per cent as well as inflation rate of 11.2 per cent is envisaged with an exchange rate of N150 to a dollar.

Jonathan, at the signing ceremony in Abuja, said, “The purpose of the 2010 budget is to accelerate economic recovery through targeted fiscal interventions designed to stimulate the economy and support sustained private sector growth.” He expressed hope that the appropriated funds would be utilised to accelerate initiatives, which would spur rapid development of the nation, in view of the multi-faceted challenges that would be addressed. He urged the ministers to be judicious in the use of their budgeted votes as implementation by ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, would be effectively monitored.

There have been worries over the slow pace of the budget process. The budget was delayed at the National Assembly for five months before it was passed. Almost one month after, there were still petty quarrels between the executive and the legislature over the budget figures. The acting president was said to have delayed the signing of the budget because he was not comfortable with the huge addition to the budget by the National assembly. The executive, however, had to commence a process of reconciliation in order to put an end to the delay.

After the council meeting, April 21, Labaran Maku, minister of state for information and communication, disclosed that the leadership of the National Assembly had been meeting with the acting president to iron out the grey areas in the budget before appending his signature to the document. The acting president finally consented to signing the budget to avoid further delay, which would not have augured well for the economy. 

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Jonathan: Puts pen to paper.