If there is anybody I can vouch for in Buhari’s Cabinet, it is Senator Udoma Udo Udoma. I have known him, and his best friend Keem Bello Osagie, for 30 years. All three of us are graduates of Oxford University, England, although I was there before him and Keem. Udoma is as sharp as a razor; he is one of the most intelligent people I know. Better still, he is a man of unimpeachable integrity. Udoma cannot be bought. He has a very successful law practice; the last thing he would do is fiddle with public funds.

Udoma was a two-term Senator of the Federal Republic, where he distinguished himself representing Akwa Ibom. His people would always remember him as the man who ensured that Akwa Ibom now receives one of the biggest, if not the biggest, share of oil money from the federal government. While many of his Senate colleagues pocketed N50 million bribes to support Obasanjo’s dastardly third-term bid, including those who nevertheless voted against it; Udoma rejected the bribe and joined the campaign against the scheme.

Thereafter, he knew even his re-nomination as PDP Senate-candidate from Akwa Ibom would be blocked. So he quietly bid the Senate and politics goodbye. But righteousness will always exalt a man. Udoma was sought after by blue-chip companies. He re-surfaced as Chairman of UAC and a Director of Unilever. He also became in 2010 chairman of the Governing Board of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Planning in a hurry

On November 11, 2015, President Buhari appointed Udoma as Minister of Budget and Planning. Six weeks later, the president presented the 2016 budget to the National Assembly. This makes the budget an inevitable casualty of timing. A new Nigerian president is sworn in at the end of May in an election year. He is expected to have his cabinet in place by June. That would give a Minister of Budget and Planning six months to work on a budget.

However, when Buhari became president in the middle of an economic crisis, the first thing he did was to squander the first five months. In that time, anti-corruption propaganda became a substitute for policy. The economy nose-dived; going from bad to worse. Queried about the delay in choosing his cabinet, the president bad-mouthed anticipated ministers as “noise-makers.” When he finally succumbed to the Constitution by unfolding his Cabinet, the year had virtually come to an end.

Udoma is a man well-prepared for public office. However, in the short-term, he will have to defend as, a team-player minister, a budget unlikely to be his brainchild. Udoma could not have known he would be the Minister of Budget and Planning. But now he has to defend a budget he could not have planned. Frankly, there are a number of things in this budget that are indefensible.

In the medium-term, Udoma is in the unenviable position of being an economics minister to a president who clearly has very limited understanding of economics. Worse-still, he is minister to a president who castigates ministers as noise-makers. That indicates Buhari is not likely to be open to wise counsel. It would not surprise me if schemes like the ante-diluvian counter-trading are mooted again from Aso Rock sooner or later.

Pretend Budget

The first thing that becomes noticeable in the 2016 budget is that it is a budget of pretension. Nigeria is still a monocultural economy. The oil, on which the lionshare of the nation’s income depends, has suffered a drastic decline in price in the international market. But the government has decided to pretend as if nothing has happened. No austerity whatsoever is entertained. As a matter of fact, in the name of stimulating the economy, the president has decided to present a budget that assumes Nigeria has suddenly become richer overnight, when in fact we have become poorer.

This is a very neat trick. In 2015, the total federal budget was N4.45 trillion naira. In 2016, in the middle of an economic downturn, this has been increased dramatically to N6.08 trillion. The new 2016 budget is based on the price of oil being $38 a barrel, ignoring the fact that the price has already fallen below that to $36. Indeed, the IMF projects the price might fall even further in 2016 by $5 to $15; bringing it down to as low as $20. But the government is not prepared to contemplate that eventuality. How can the APC enjoy the trappings of power if, after so long in the political wilderness, its turn is now to be constrained by austerity?

Therefore, observe the following contradictions. In the middle of looming economic adversity, the government has decided to be even more profligate than the previous administration. For example, in 2014, the budget for Aso Rock was N12 billion. In 2015, President Jonathan judiciously reduced this to N6.6 billion. But in 2016, Buhari has raised this by 50 percent to N18 billion. One of the more ludicrous aspects of this is the N3.6 billion earmarked for the purchase of an unspecified number of BMW saloon cars!

Clearly, there will be no austerity in Aso Rock in 2016. As a matter of fact, it would appear that elephants will be on the menu for lunch. A whopping N1.75 billion has been budgeted for feeding in Aso Rock in 2016. Goodluck Jonathan was pilloried for spending N1 billion in 2011. He reduced this to N717 million in 2013; N542 million in 2014; and N530 million in 2015. But now Buhari has decided to increase this by more than 100 percent. N115 million is budgeted for foodstuffs and catering materials for President Buhari alone, an increase of over 64 percent above that of President Jonathan.

If you were of the view that the president has spent too much of his honeymoon period gallivanting abroad this year, think again. N1.4 billion has been allocated for his travel expenses in 2016; N470 million more than that of Jonathan in 2015. The maintenance of the 10 aircraft presidential fleet that the president attacked as wasteful when he was asking Nigerians for our votes will cost N3.6 billion in 2016. N764 million is budgeted for the construction of recreational facilities just for Mr. President.

The same lavishness is also proposed for the vice-president. Not to be left out, the National Assembly will cost us nothing less than N115 billion. These are the kinds of changes the APC has in store for Nigeria in fiscal 2016.

Voodoo Buharinomics

Where is the money for all the extra expenditures in 2016 supposed to come from given the sharp reduction in our income? There is a lot of talk about squeezing more money out of taxation, creating greater efficiencies in the MDAs, and generating more income from agriculture and solid minerals. But it is just talk.

Only N29 billion is devoted to the Ministry of Agriculture, while more money, N39 billion, is earmarked for Ministry of Information and Culture. But of course, Lai Mohammed has already told us he plans to have one cultural festival a day, 365 days in 2016; although he has already missed a few days.

Principally, the government has decided to go a-borrowing. It proposes to borrow N1.88 trillion in 2016; 30.9 percent of the total budget; N1 trillion more than was borrowed in 2015. This is where the whole thing gets even more ludicrous.

When the APC came to power, the first thing it attacked was Nigeria’s debt-profile under the previous Jonathan administration. Vice-President Osinbajo complained that: “Our economy is currently in perhaps its worst moment in history. Local and international debt stands at $60 billion.”

The APC answer to this predicament is now to borrow more in 2016 than we did in 2015. Osinbajo complained that our debt-servicing bill in 2015 was N953 billion. How then are we to understand the APC decision to increase that debt-servicing bill to N1.8 trillion in 2016; an increase of nearly 100 percent. Osinbajo complained that our debt-servicing bill was 21 percent of the budget under Jonathan in 2015. But now Under Buhari, 30.9 percent of the total federal budget in 2016 is going to be financed by debt.

Suddenly, the same government that complained it inherited a huge burden of debt from the PDP now argues that Nigeria is under-borrowed. That is the new truth now being dished out by government spin-doctors. Kemi Adeosun, the new Finance Minister, now says Nigeria’s debt to GDP ratio is low at 12 percent. She compares this conveniently to Angola (57 percent) and South Africa (48 percent).

In which case, our indebtedness is no longer an albatross. Since the APC has replaced the PDP at the centre, we can now borrow as much as we like. This is all well and good. Except that it is exactly how we got into the debt predicament of the 1980s and 1990s. It means in 2016, we will spend N4 billion every day on debt-servicing.

Productive debt

The government promises that, this time, it is only going to borrow for capital projects. But it cannot tell us precisely what these capital projects are. All we have are promissory notes that they will be for infrastructural projects like roads, rails and power supply. However, promissory notes from this APC government are no longer worth a dime.

In 2015, the federal budget was N4.5 trillion. Nevertheless, the government was able to gather as much as N1.5 billion into the TSA account. This represents money not spent from previous budgets. This should tell us that we did not even have the capacity to spend what we earned. Monies voted for recurrent expenditure gets gobbled up more or less. But capital projects are either ignored, uncompleted, or big chunks of the earmarked money are stolen.

What the government now proposes to do is to increase even that usually unspent money, without first fixing the underlying lack of capacity-utilisation. Since the government actually has no structural anti-corruption policy, beyond declaring its enemies guilty without trial, all that might happen here is that we are simply making more money available for graft.

Then there is the brilliant idea of employing 500,000 graduates as teachers in the rural areas. Quite apart from the difficulty of assembling and equipping these graduates, the cost of the project is prohibitive. A modest 50,000 monthly wage bill will come to N300 billion per annum, while the total amount allocated for education is N369 billion.

My conclusion is simple. The APC won the election in the wrong country. The government should be shipped elsewhere; perhaps to France.

http://blogs.premiumtimesng.com/?p=170314

No matter how far lies will travel, it takes a step for truth to catch up with it.

Gradually we are understanding the harm Buhari has done this nation.

This is a good exposition on our "fears" about APC led government. Now I'm confused. I thought APC had good plans for us. #shakesmyheadindisgust

As usual. Femi d chief wailer, never seen anything good in Buhari. Wake up man d hate is consuming you. Cant even wait for implementation b4 ds gibberrish.
Wailers are liable to die young.

Kemi .......why!

Gej is a clueless president he shall be kicked out in 2019

All we re saying #Buharifireon.

No peace 4 d wailer.

Budget of Change Indeed.

How was a dvllard elected to lead bright people of the south?'APC is a monumental fraud!

HOW CAN INFORMATION MINISTRY RECEIVES MORE THAN AGRICULTURAL MINISTRY. GOD HELP US

You can not buy common sense with Oxford Phd.
A number of charlatans take turns in series to insult our senses.
How is it not possible.
Lagos budget is solely based on IGR and shows the possibilities

We knew that PMB do not have anything to offer. Yes he is very unintelligent, un-diplomatic and undemocratic. His bigotry and vindictiveness stinks...
But we are in a country were hatred thrives, no tribe trusts the other, no national cohesion...
Yet it was pertinent at the time of the election that power must return to the North or Nigeria will brake apart...
The only available option (candidate from a mega party) was Buhari (if it were another Northern muslim, he could have won equally)...
President GEJ understood this and handed over peacefully...
It is the time of the North to rule again...APC presented the Northerner...else APC is not the messianic party, not even prepared at all to rule...

is anybody surprised that this is not yet on the front-page? Aisha rice at work.

It is only in 9ija that information ministry wil get more allocation than the ministry they are encouraging us to move to (agric)

Truth be told, Buhari (APC) are not interested in governance. This budget has clearly shown that they are only interested in recouping money spent during the election.

Instead of cutting the cost of governance as previously preached by Buhari (prior to his election victory) , he is increasing the cost of governance at a time of Austerity.

Femi Aribisala should just stick to political analysis and just leave economic analysis alone. I could pick enough holes in most of what he wrote there but that would just take another long epistle, so I'll pass.

Budget for the Ministry of information and culture 39 billion naira, agriculture 29 billion naira. Buhari disregards agriculture even when the price of oil is going down?

The fact That this apt and well written piece is not yet on front page further reaffirms my belief that nairaland manager are partisans,many political events have evidenced their tendencies to grotesque mendacity.

OKKO:
We knew that PMB do not have anything to offer. Yes he is very unintelligent, un-diplomatic and undemocratic. His bigotry and vindictiveness stinks...
But we are in a country were hatred thrives, no tribe trusts the other, no national cohesion...
Yet it was pertinent at the time of the election that power must return to the North or Nigeria will brake apart...
The only available option (candidate from a mega party) was Buhari (if it were another Northern muslim, he could have won equally)...
President GEJ understood this and handed over peacefully...
It is the time of the North to rule again...APC presented the Northerner...else APC is not the messianic party, not even prepared at all to rule...

Why didn't you vote for chekwas okorie? So you think GEJ was kicked out because he was a southerner?

The earlier you wake up the better for you....

If i can endure the 16 years of PDP, then wailers should taka a chill till May 29 2019 when the next president will be sworn in or Buhari continues

small small d truth don dey comot. small small nigerians go know say GEJ administration was d best ever especially in infrastructural developement n debt management.
dem APC zombies abused GEJ for lying dat nigeria has d biggest economy in africa after rebasing, yet their minister of finance kemi adeosun admitted dat nigeria's debt to gdp ratio is d best in africa at 12% compared to angola n south africa with 50% n 43% respectively, using GEJ's $510 billion gdp estimate. have d zombies now realise dat nigeria's economy under GEJ was d largest in africa so all of a suden nigeria's debt is no longer an issue, contrary to wat mere commissioner said in june dat nigeria's debt profile was at its worse ever in history at $60 billion. who is decieving who now instead of reducing debt profile, they ar borrowing N1.8 trillion. is dis how they intend to reduce d debt?
2016 budget is not budget of change but budget of LOOTING n DEBT.
now PDP will be left with d burden of clearing d rot n debt APC plung nigeria in 2019. Smh.

This was long predicted.

Today they are hosting the IMF and negotiating a loan.

By the time these APC zombies get sense , Nigeria will be indebt for the next 40yrs.

dridowu:
If i can endure the 16 years of PDP, then wailers should taka a chill till May 29 2019 when the next president will be sworn in or Buhari continues

16yrs of PDP will be glory days to you very soon.

What is happening in osun and most of your parasitic gbesse Southwest states will be a joke after Buhari finally destroys Nigeria with jos foolishness .

Did we not warn you zombies

PPAngel:

[size=18pt]Buhari set to cancel direct strategic Chinnese investments in place of IMF loans[/size]

The concluded WEF held in Abuja in May, 2014 saw China unveil a $42bn investment over the next 10yrs in the African continent with Nigeria expected to gulp the highest share of over $30bn in direct infrastructural investment, energy sector and manufacturing.


With the emergence of the newly appointed Colonial Governor of the Royal Niger Company aka Nigeria, expect to see Buhari cancel outrightly all Chinnese direct investments in preference to western loans from the IMF, World Bank and Paris Club.

Off course, all the newly borrowed money will be diverted with nothing on ground to show for it but debt for the next 40years.

Change Change Change!

[size=15pt]Everything about this Buhari govt is a joke.

They are using a so-called probe to
blindfold gullible supporters
[/size]

The author says

If there is anybody I can vouch for in Buhari’s Cabinet, it is Senator Udoma Udo Udoma. I have known him, and his best friend Keem Bello Osagie, for 30 years. All three of us are graduates of Oxford University, England, although I was there before him and Keem. Udoma is as sharp as a razor; he is one of the most intelligent people I know. Better still, he is a man of unimpeachable integrity. Udoma cannot be bought. He has a very successful law practice; the last thing he would do is fiddle with public funds.

he then goes on to say

Udoma is a man well-prepared for public office. However, in the short-term, he will have to defend as, a team-player minister, a budget unlikely to be his brainchild. Udoma could not have known he would be the Minister of Budget and Planning. But now he has to defend a budget he could not have planned. Frankly, there are a number of things in this budget that are indefensible.

The irony is so glaring i find it hard to believe the author is oxford trained.

A man of integrity would not put his name on a document he cannot defend so if Mr Udoma is a man of integrity and as intelligent as the author claims then Mr Udoma would have had a lot to say as far as this budget is concerned and the budget is most likely his brain child.

The article just shows the author hates the president and is finding every possible means to knock him but given that his friend (whom he can vouch for) is in charge, he first tries to exonerate his friend(that is not held against his will) before bashing the president and his party.

APCzombie:


16yrs of PDP will be glory days to you very soon.

What is happening in osun and most of your parasitic gbesse Southwest states will be a joke after Buhari finally destroys Nigeria with jos foolishness .

the thing pain, e wan cry, pele , 4yrs is a just a matter of daz. Endure

ValarDoharis:
How was a dvllard elected to lead bright people of the south?'APC is a monumental fraud!

nigerians say dem prefare nepa bill to PHD. unfortunately for dem zombies, fashola don increase nepa bill rate for dem.

lalasticlala come see how buari dey put nigeria under debt.

dridowu:
the thing pain, e wan cry, pele , 4yrs is a just a matter of daz. Endure

Zombie like you think this is like having your favorite premiership club win their rivals.

By the time hunger begin set in for you and your family maybe your sense go return.

People like you are only satisfied as long as your belly is full with no single plan of tomorows meal.

I wonder how many banquets Aisha will be hosting to feed you in 2016? Or maybe you hope to join the daily cultural troupe lair Mohammed hopes to use to distract fools like you.

Grow sense or devolve back to your ape origins

abouzaid:
is anybody surprised that this is not yet on the front-page? Aisha rice at work.

i wonder o!