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Joy Mackson, Abuja
The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has described the Federal Government’s N13.08 trillion 2021 budget as a document designed to encourage massive looting, adding that the incomes and expenditures of the budget are frivolous, inappropriate, unclear and wasteful.
The Lead Director of CSJ, Mr Eze Onyekpere, stated this on Tuesday while addressing journalists in Abuja during a review of the 2021 Federal Appropriation Bill and Estimates, which totals N325,334,458,139 billion.
He said: “This is preparing the ground for massive looting because there is nothing you can hold on to to investigate the projects. We can’t continue going on a road that doesn’t lead us to achieve any results. We must begin to disaggregate them so that Nigerians know what each item would be used for”, he said.
Onyekpere urged the government to cut down the profligacy and allocate more funds to key areas like healthcare and education.
He stated: “increase funding on health to not less than 50 per cent of the Abuja declaration, being 7.5 per cent of the overall vote and the new funds should be channeled to developmental expenditure. Consider making universal health insurance compulsory for all Nigerians and establish the health bank of Nigeria to provide single digit capital for the development of the sector beyond budgetary appropriations,” adding that “Basic Healthcare Provision Fund should be fully disbursed.”
He also noted that “the Federal Ministry of Education should set up mechanisms for increased accountability in the tertiary education system so that internally generated revenue can be more optimally utilised.”
On reducing debts and borrowing, Onyekpere stressed that “President Muhammadu Buhari, and the National Assembly should set the Consolidated Debt Limits of the three tiers of government in accordance with section 42 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) mandating these limits, as well as in obedience to the in-appealed judgement of the Federal High Court in Centre for Social Justice v The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and four others (Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/302/2013).”
The Lead Director also emphasised that considering a moratorium on new borrowing would be wiser than funding recurrent expenditure from proceeds of borrowing.
