{"id":18994,"date":"2017-11-07T21:36:34","date_gmt":"2017-11-07T20:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/?p=18994"},"modified":"2017-11-07T21:36:34","modified_gmt":"2017-11-07T20:36:34","slug":"budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/","title":{"rendered":"Budget: Govt Should Give Infrastructure Funding Priority, Says Expert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federal Government should ensure that a large part of the of the N8.6 trillion budget for 2017 targets infrastructure, Chief Executive Officer, BudgiT, a civic organization promoting transparency in governance,\u00a0\u00a0Seun Onigbinde, has said.<\/p>\n

Speaking yesterday during the maiden edition of the ‘Meet-The-Executive’ organized by the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) in Lagos, Lagos, he said conversations of budget should involve everyone, because the impact of its full and efficient implementation or otherwise, also falls on the people.<\/p>\n

Onigbinde, who spoke on the theme: \u201cBudget Analysis, Monitoring and Implementation: The Role of Financial Journalists”, said there is need to ensure effective budget monitoring and implementation, insisting that government should bring accountability and probity to public finance spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cA large part of the budget should go to infrastructure financing. Government has to work very hard since it has limited time to prove its mettle as the 2019 elections approaches,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said government needs to diversify its revenue base, and to enable it achieve its developmental objectives. \u201cMany people are looking at this budget to see if there will be actual tangible achievement in it. The budget has to be quickly passed because\u00a0\u00a0we have a short period of governance next year. We have a lot of time for politicking. But before the politicking, let\u2019s have the budget quickly passed and implemented,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He explained that most of the assumptions for the revenue in the budget is bloated and said there is need to build and develop new strategies to attract more revenues. How are going to build other streams of income opportunities. There are huge assumptions on revenue. How are going to expand revenues from taxes. How are we going to raise Value Added Tax (VAT). Projections today shows that oil prices will continue to rise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also said that all hands must be on the deck when it comes to budget discussion, adding that how public finances are spent should concern everyone, and urged Nigerians to intelligent input into such expenditures.<\/p>

\r\n
Advertisement<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\r\n \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

Onigbinde also insisted that budget should focus on quality service delivery, implementation, and audit of whatever projects that have been executed using public finances. \u201cAfter the projects in the budget has been effectively executed, there is need to audit the projects to ensure that transparency and quality value delivery,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to him, only projects listed in the budget can be financed through it, and urged the people to ensure that present projects that have community benefits\u00a0\u00a0for funding through public finances.<\/p>\n

He said many state budgets are wishful lists, because the budgets are far higher than the state\u2019s revenue bases. He said the performance of the budget and demand accountability on the part of the government.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf government says the law demands that I pay my taxes, then they should also know that I have the right to know how the money is spent. We need to ensure that the resources of government are well spent. Public interest has to be a priority in spending public finances,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u00a0On the award of contract, he said everyone has the right to bid and execute government contracts. \u201cContracts should be made available for everyone to decide if he or she can win and implement it. It should not be given to people based on familiarity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Federal Government should ensure that a large part of the of the N8.6 trillion budget for 2017 targets infrastructure, Chief Executive Officer, BudgiT, a civic organization promoting transparency in governance,\u00a0\u00a0Seun Onigbinde, has said. Speaking yesterday during the maiden edition of the ‘Meet-The-Executive’ organized by the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) in Lagos, Lagos, he …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18997,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,17],"tags":[482],"coauthors":[2391],"class_list":["post-18994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-business","category-news","tag-budget"],"yoast_head":"\nBudget: Govt Should Give Infrastructure Funding Priority, Says Expert - National Wire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Federal Government should ensure that a large part of the of the N8.6 trillion budget for 2017 targets infrastructure, Chief Executive Officer,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Budget: Govt Should Give Infrastructure Funding Priority, Says Expert - National Wire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Federal Government should ensure that a large part of the of the N8.6 trillion budget for 2017 targets infrastructure, Chief Executive Officer,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"National Wire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-07T20:36:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Budget-1-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2062\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2732\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Friday Ekeoba\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/\",\"name\":\"National Wire\",\"description\":\"About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Budget-1-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Budget-1-2.jpg\",\"width\":2062,\"height\":2732},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/\",\"name\":\"Budget: Govt Should Give Infrastructure Funding Priority, Says Expert - National Wire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-07T20:36:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-07T20:36:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#\/schema\/person\/e2ab303e561d755b325fc9cea3854927\"},\"description\":\"Federal Government should ensure that a large part of the of the N8.6 trillion budget for 2017 targets infrastructure, Chief Executive Officer,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Budget: Govt Should Give Infrastructure Funding Priority, Says Expert\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#\/schema\/person\/e2ab303e561d755b325fc9cea3854927\",\"name\":\"Friday Ekeoba\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/author\/friday\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Budget: Govt Should Give Infrastructure Funding Priority, Says Expert - National Wire","description":"Federal Government should ensure that a large part of the of the N8.6 trillion budget for 2017 targets infrastructure, Chief Executive Officer,","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Budget: Govt Should Give Infrastructure Funding Priority, Says Expert - National Wire","og_description":"Federal Government should ensure that a large part of the of the N8.6 trillion budget for 2017 targets infrastructure, Chief Executive Officer,","og_url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/","og_site_name":"National Wire","article_published_time":"2017-11-07T20:36:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2062,"height":2732,"url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Budget-1-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Friday Ekeoba","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/","name":"National Wire","description":"About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Budget-1-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Budget-1-2.jpg","width":2062,"height":2732},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/","name":"Budget: Govt Should Give Infrastructure Funding Priority, Says Expert - National Wire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2017-11-07T20:36:34+00:00","dateModified":"2017-11-07T20:36:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#\/schema\/person\/e2ab303e561d755b325fc9cea3854927"},"description":"Federal Government should ensure that a large part of the of the N8.6 trillion budget for 2017 targets infrastructure, Chief Executive Officer,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/budget-govt-give-infrastructure-funding-priority-says-expert\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Budget: Govt Should Give Infrastructure Funding Priority, Says Expert"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#\/schema\/person\/e2ab303e561d755b325fc9cea3854927","name":"Friday Ekeoba","url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/author\/friday\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18994"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18998,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18994\/revisions\/18998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18994"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=18994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}