“Nigeria’s Unprecedented Budget Plan: A Recipe For Chaos?”

BudgIT, a leading civic-tech organization, has raised alarm over Nigeria’s proposed budget plan, which would see four budgets implemented simultaneously.

According to it, this anomaly, unprecedented in Nigeria’s history, would lead to severe budget credibility issues, negatively impacting service delivery and public infrastructure.

Recall, the 2023 Approved Budget and 2023 Supplementary Budget, initially intended to run for 12 months, have been extended to December 31, 2024.

Meanwhile, the 2024 Appropriation Bill and a proposed 2024 Supplementary budget are being drafted, resulting in four concurrent budgets.

This practice, BudgIT said negates the principle of annuality and violates the 1999 Constitution and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007.

BudgIT urges the Federal Government and National Assembly to amend this convoluted system, return to a disciplined January-December budget calendar, and prioritize projects aligning with Nigeria’s development goals, reducing inequality, and improving citizens’ lives.

Recall that the 2023 Approved Budget of N21.83 trillion, signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari in January 2023, was designed to run for 12 calendar months from January to December, as is the practice globally. In addition, while the 2024 Appropriation Bill was being drafted, the 2023 Supplementary Budget of N2.17 trillion was passed by the National Assembly and assented to by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu barely two months before the end of the 2023 fiscal year.

“For a brief period, Nigeria returned to the January – December budget calendar in 2019 but retrogressed from the 2020 fiscal year. From 2020 to date, the Federal Government has routinely extended the implementation period for the capital budgets beyond 12 calendar months—a practice that negates the principle of annuality of public budgets. The National Assembly had initially extended the implementation of the 2023 Approved Budget and 2023 Supplementary Budget to June 30, 2024, and now to December 31, 2024. If allowed to be implemented, the practice would convert Nigeria’s annual budget into a biennial one, a practice neither provided for by the 1999 Constitution nor the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007.

“More worrisome is the fact that the Federal Government is currently drafting another 2024 Supplementary budget, which it intends to implement alongside the 2023 Approved Budget, 2023 Supplementary Budget and 2024 Approved Budget, thereby resulting in the simultaneous implementation of four budgets—an anomaly with no precedence. Standard practice should be that projects not catered to within a fiscal year are rolled over to the budget of a new fiscal year.

“The concurrent implementation of four budgets will lead to severe budget credibility issues, as revenues projected in 2024 alone would most likely be used in implementing four different budgets, negatively impacting service delivery in critical social sectors and the provision of essential public infrastructure”, said Gabriel Okeowo, BudgIT’s Country Director.

BudgIT identified many frivolous items in the 2023 Approved Budget and 2023 Supplementary Budget that will compete with essential projects in the 2024 Budget for the meagre resources available to the Federal Government.