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For today’s Numbers To Ponder, DATAPHYTE takes a critical look at how Nigeria plans to fund research-based policy decisions with a meagre N111.2 billion in 2020 budget. We are also sharing details about Akwa Ibom 2020 budget cut, FG’s performance-based grant to 24 states, and other figures for you to ponder.
There is a consensus that Nigeria underfunds research and innovation. This view is emphasized in an interview with Prof. Peter Okebukola, a former executive secretary of the National Universities Commission. He stated that African universities are on the lowest rung of research and innovation due to underfunding. Perhaps, the recent appeal of the Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions to the Federal Government to use part of the COVID 19 donations to fund health research institutions puts credence to that position.
For a plan such as the second National Strategic Health Development Plan (NSHDP-II) that is expected to cost up to N6.07 trillion, an updated appraisal of achievements since its implementation is necessary. This is to ensure that all targets of the plan are met and that the plan is not just an on-paper plan. Appraisals of this nature are also important to avoid a repeat of the abysmal performance of NSHDP-I which had only 2 of the 52 set targets met.
Nigeria’s fiscals for 2020 has been confronted with a plethora of challenges from the onset of the budget cycle. As at when the 2020 appropriation bill was passed, the country had a budget deficit of ₦2.175 trillion. Fluctuations and crashes in the price of Brent crude together with the COVID 19 pandemic plunged the country into another financial crisis. To absorb the effect of the various financial assaults on the country, the 2020 budget was downsized by ₦1.5 trillion in March 2020.
A National budget can be compared to what a man does when it’s his turn to shop for the family for the month. Usually, the woman knows every detail in her head – groceries, toiletries, deodorants, four kinds of pepper, five kinds of seasoning, dry beans, baked beans, green beans, fresh fruits, fruit juice and so on. A smart husband will take a jotter and keep writing these items down against the estimated cost the wife gives him. By the time the list reaches the 55th item, a gentleman is likely going to say, “darling, I want to use the bathroom!”. He clutches his groin with one hand and passes the paper to the wife with the other hand. He jets off from the room with his last plea, “Babe, please add all these up first, my calculator is on the shelf, I want to know if I have enough money to cover all those expenses.” Now assume, the man had been writing the cost of each item in words or in Roman numerals.
The Budget Office of the Federation has released Nigeria’s approved budget for 2020. According to Premium Times, the appropriation bill, which aims at sustaining growth and job creation, was expeditiously passed thereby restoring the Federal Budget to a January – December budget cycle. It is the earliest approved budget since Nigeria’s return to civilian rule in 1999.
The Federal Government of Nigeria has carved the 2020 budget around sustaining growth and job creation. The budget is designed to drive fiscal consolidation, investment in critical infrastructure, human capital development and enabling institutions, incentives for private sector investment, and enhancement of the social investment programmes to further deepen their impact on the most vulnerable Nigerians. According to Daily Trust, the Federal Government plans to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the 2020 budget cycle.
No doubt, a number of ills characterised Buhari’s administration in 2019. From over 75 attacks on the press, to a number of violations of court orders and the pumped prices that came with the closure of the Nigerian border. Chibok girls are still missing and the negotiation for release remain a political subject. Moreover, thousands of displaced persons and deaths still caused by Boko Haram attacks. The same government has virtually run deficit budget and incurred not less than $80 billion in debt since 2015.
The Federal government of Nigeria has appropriated over 613.5 billion naira (N613,462,338,602) to the Nigerian Correctional Service, formerly known as Nigerian Prisons Service, in the last ten years, a DATAPHYTE analysis has shown. In the same period, not less than N88.4 billion naira (N88,413,686,241) has been allocated for capital expenditure despite the fact that over 60 percent of the Nigerian prison population in the same period are pre-trial/remand prisoners. As a matter of fact, about 7 out of 10 inmates in prison today are awaiting trial persons. This is coupled with the increasing population of the prison every year as shown in the charts below.
