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The unmet needs of family planning increased drastically during the peak of the COVID-19 lockdown in Nigeria. In Kaduna, experts said the lockdown created a room for shortages in the supply of commodities and a high rate of unintended pregnancy. They also discussed the paucity of funds, which resulted in poor management of family planning in Kaduna.
One of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy of various nations is a call for the revision of the budgetary allocation for the year 2020. In Nigeria, the revision of the 2020 appropriation budget is not just to accommodate the economic reality of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also to budget based on a realistic oil price benchmark that reflects the dwindling oil price.
According to the 2020 revised budget bill the Federal Government, through its 2020 Budget revision, has increased the budget deficit to ₦4.95 Trillion. However, it discarded the initial plan to reduce the 2020 Appropriation by ₦1.5 Trillion in what can be described as a tactical way to finance the increment to its recurrent expenditure.
The Federal Government has dropped budget allocation for the renovation of the National Assembly (NASS) complex by 75 percent in yet another blatant disregard for priorities. Initially, the government had budgeted N37 billion for the renovation of the NASS complex, a capital allocation fixed under the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) budget. Analysis of the revised 2020 budget showed that the Federal Government reduced budget allocation for the renovation from ₦37 billion to ₦9.25 billion, despite calls by Nigerians for outright removal. It is not certain if the Senate Committee on Finance will touch its budget.
₦15 billion reduction in capital expenditure to Ministry of Health ₦30 million Cut in NHIS Enrolment and Coverage Budget No reduction in the overhead expenditure
The Federal Government has increased capital allocation to the Ministry of Housing’s National Housing Programme by ₦3 billion. This increased capital allocation from ₦13.57 billion to ₦16.57 billion.
Budgetary provisions from the revised 2020 budget have continued to stimulate discussion on Nigeria’s revenue management framework and the country’s commitment to development. From the meagre provision for healthcare and education to the untouched legislature expenditure, the budget revision has been described as unsatisfactory. But a further review of the revised budget reveals components that raise more questions. Provisions for the Presidential Amnesty Program (PAP) is one of such.
A review of the Revised 2020 Budget exclusively obtained by DATAPHYTE indicates that the Federal Government has reduced the total budget size by only ₦84.71 billion. Against the background that the government initially proposed a ₦1.5 trillion budget cut (over 14 percent reduction of the total budget size), the new cut is low.
The Federal Government transmitted the bill of the revised budget to the National Assembly for passage before the weekend.
Data analysis by Dataphyte has shown the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) paid over 8 billion as salary upfront in January 2020. This is according to the daily payment data published on the open treasury portal.
A recent DATAPHYTE occasional paper revealed that budgetary provision to some of the top five most critical sector’s of Nigeria’s economy accounted for only 17 percent of the initial 2020 budget. While these five key sectors (Agriculture, education, health, infrastructure [power, works and housing], and security) compete for less than a fifth of the total budget size, allocation to debt servicing was over 25 percent of the total budget size for the same year.
Most of the 36 states in Nigeria are reviewing their 2020 budgets. The review is in response to current economic challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those that have reviewed cited dwindling oil prices and disruption of economic activities caused by coronavirus crisis. Since the price war started, the cost of crude oil has dropped drastically, affecting the revenue of the Nigerian Government.
The Federal Government has announced its decision to downsize the 2020 budget by ₦1.5tn. Yet, there is no public information on the budget items that make up the amount. Though budget cut is a reasonable decision, experts say the government must exercise caution. That the implementation must secure critical sectors such as education and health
The failure to publish the Audit Report in a timely manner and non-disclosures of broad parameters of fiscal policies continue to affect Nigeria’s ranking on budget transparency. A new survey by the International Budget Partnership has shown.
