Lost in the Labyrinth: Another Nigerian Budget Go Loss, by Prince Charles Dickson, Ph.D.

The owner of the body does not say that he is in no pain, while we insist on commiserating with him for his sleeplessness and his restlessness. (One does not commiserate with a person who does not admit his/her misfortune).

Writing under the headline, Budgets: How Buhari, Tinubu, Jonathan, Obasanjo, Yar’Adua spent N232.55trn in 27 years, Vanguard’s Political Editor Clifford Ndujihe, Politics Editor says that •Buhari leads in the appropriation of $667.887bn, Yar’Adua spent the least

•Huge budgets, little development. 

I would copy and paste his report here—

If the National Assembly approves President Bola Tinubu’s N49.74 trillion 2025 budget proposal, it means in 27 years, Nigeria has budgeted N232.546 trillion.

The figure is the summation of the various budgets and supplementary budgets passed by the National Assembly since 1999, according to Saturday Vanguard’s check.

Based on official exchange rates at the time of the appropriations, the N232.546 trillion is equivalent to $667.887 bn. The total sum would be less than $500 bn if parallel or black market exchange rates were applied.

Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who was in the saddle for 1,071 days, spent N10.949 trillion or $79.13 billion, which is 4.71 percent of the staggering N232.546 trillion (see table). Yar’Adua died on May 5, 2010, 24 days to the third anniversary of his May 29, 2007 presidential inauguration.

In his eight-year sojourn at the Presidential Villa, former President Olusegun Obasanjo appropriated N12.332 trn ($121.35 bn) or 5.30 percent of the 27-year budget. The figure includes the budget he inherited from the departing military regime of General Abdulsalami Abubakar, retd, on May 29, 1999.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan, who deputized for Yar’Adua and succeeded him, presided over the affairs of Nigeria for five years, during which he spent N25.296 trillion ($156.569 bn) or 10.88 percent of the budget.

Immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari, the second man to rule Nigeria for two terms of eight years, had the highest expenditure. Between May 29, 2015, when he succeeded President Jonathan, and May 29, 2023, when he handed over to President Tinubu, he spent 41.72 percent of the nation’s budget in 27 years. He appropriated N97.018 trillion or $228.641 billion.

Current President Tinubu, who has been in the saddle for 17 months, has so far spent N37.332 trn, and by the end of the year, if his 2025 budget got the National Assembly’s nod, he would have spent N86.972 trn ($81.977 bn) or 37.40 percent of the budgets.

Writing in 2012, it was Goodluck Ebele  Jonathan’s administration’s budget; I reasoned on Why There Is a Lack Amidst Plenty.

That year, the Federal Government funded a quarter of its 2012 budget proposal with external and domestic loans.

A total of $1.712 billion, estimated at N265.36 billion, came from countries such as India, China, and France, while the government dug N794 billion from the domestic market, bringing total borrowings for funding of fiscal 2012 to N1.059 trillion.

Besides the N1.059 loan used to fund government spending that year, the government borrowed another N600 billion from the capital market to refinance matured loans.

$1.032 billion was sourced from India, Japan, and China under new borrowings to fund the N4.74 trillion Federal Government budget, according to the budget details submitted to the National Assembly.

The new borrowings by the government were beside $679.53 million in existing loan agreements that would be drawn down in the forthcoming budget year.

Under the new borrowings, the French Development Agency provided $159.69 million; the Japanese Overseas Development Agency provided $150 million, $300 million came from the Chinese Global Facility, and another $9 million came from a credit line from India.

Other sources of new borrowings were the International Development Association, IDA, an arm of the World Bank, which provided $343.5 million, while the African Development Fund, a development channel of the African Development Bank, provided $70.5 million.

If half of these funds had gone into the right channel, Nigeria would have been a developed nation in half a decade, Nigerians would have smiles from their heart, and they would have believed a president who said we are not broke and borrowing is not all that bad, a president who says if we were just two million fuel would be free.

Sadly, after all these borrowings, all these millions, billions, and trillions, the Federal Government spent more than N1.31bn in fuelling generators in 2012.

The Presidency spent N99.8m to fuel generators at the State House alone, and we say all is well, they told us to tighten our belt, and they released their own to make room for big bulging tummies from cassava bread, ofada, and abakaliki rice with choice cassava alcohol juice.

The figure was some 80% higher than the N54m budgeted in 2011. Did France, India, and China know this, well, even if they did, it mattered less, it was good business for them.  Chinese and Indian generators, French spares, it goes round, and it comes around.

According to the 2012 budget estimates, the State House bought an unspecified number of buses, three utility jeeps, and operational vehicles, an 18-seater transit Coaster bus, spent another N356.7 million to replace aged vehicles, procured two treated Mercedes Benz saloon 600E guard for use by the President and Vice President at the sum of N140 million. It bought five Mercedes Benz saloon 350 semi-plain cars at N25 million, 10 assorted Range Rover jeeps, Prado and Land Cruiser.

All these at just about 10 million short of a billion naira…welcome to the Aso Rock car stand…an auto shop for those who do not buy fuel at a subsidized rate.

From the borrowed money, GEJ and Sambo that year spent 1 Billion Naira on food, enjoying exactly the sum of N992.57 million worth of food, general catering services, and kitchen utensils and equipment. If my primary knowledge of utensils is right…it should include spoons and knives, fingers spoons and plates, cups…for one billion naira (sic).

From these billions, Jonathan spent N3 billion on overseas trips that year, while his next buddy, Sambo, spent N1.7 billion on trips and N1.3 billion on office stationery. Healthy Sambo spent 314 million on drugs and medical supplies, which was more money for drugs than Jos University Teaching Hospital.

I stated that in Nigeria, it is not just about the more you look, the less you see; the fact is that you rarely see much or see nothing. The system, if indeed we have any, seems to defy all odds and logical reasoning. When you expect it to falter, fall, and fail, it takes a curve and strangely comes on strong on the rebound. The only question is, for how long do we have to rely on auto-piloting the ship of governance?

We are taught in primary school math that one plus one would equal two, however, in these climes, it could equal three, four, seven, and ten or even be zero. Every concerted effort at getting it right meets with unexplainable capitulation–It never adds up, 

One treats a disease; one does not treat death, my admonition every week dwells on the importance of us having to attend to problems before they become unmanageable. However, we simply never listen or worry.

A local axiom says a cripple does not block the road with his legs. Meaning that a person with a handicap should not challenge those who are not handicapped, but in Nigeria, the story is different.

The weed did not know that the farmer had a machete. The evil-doer does not consider the response of the person wronged. It all does not add up.

It is 2025, and we are not shocked by the recalcitrant behavior of public officeholders, despite the trust deficit, it is not enough to give birth to indignation, there is no fury.

I conclude this admonition by saying that our government would continue to be irresponsible with budgets and play cat and mouse with corruption because we show no outrage, we have not been pushed beyond bounds, and we are not exactly yet angry at our present situation if we ever are—Only time will tell.

—

Prince Charles Dickson, PhD

Team Lead

The Tattaaunawa Roundtable Initiative (TRICentre)

Development & Media Practitioner|

Researcher|Policy Analyst|Public Intellect|Teacher

234 803 331 1301, 234 805 715 2301

Alternate Mail: pcdbooks@yahoo.com

Skype ID: princecharlesdickson