By Adeola OgunladeThe Director-General of Budget Office, Ben Akabueze has assured Nigerians that the implementation of the 2020 budget will be better and results driven despite the growing spate of coronavirus plaguing the world today.Akabueze made this known at the 2020 National Budget Roundtable and Panel Discussion organised by Covenant University in partnership with the Centre for Economic Policy and Development Research and the World University Ranking 2020 top 500 held recently at CUCRID, Covenant University, Ogun State.Tagged: The Art of National Budgeting and Nigerias Debt Profile had students, policy makers, scholars, and industry players.Akabueze, who was represented by the Technical Adviser to the Director General, Budget Office of the Federation, Olumide Ayodele said that the federal governments resolve to fully implement the 2020 budget is not negotiable.We will continue to ensure that the economy stays on a growth trajectory whilst making strategic investments in critical infrastructure and human capital to spur further economic growth. We hope to implement the 2020 Budget 100%. We have released N220 billion of the 2020 MDA capital to sectors requiring funds in the dry season. Sectors like Agriculture will be prioritized during the raining season.Akabueze posited that we have had eleven consecutive quarters of positive growth since the exit from recession, though levels remain below desirable targets, adding that highest quarterly growth of 2.55% in Q4 2019.Read Also:FEC cuts 2020 budget by N1.5TnWe will continue to deepen our non-oil sector performance with non-oil GDP at over 93% of GDP as at Q4 2019. We have made unprecedented progress with social investment programmes and are innovating ways of funding infrastructure, he said.Although, he noted that Nigeria currently have huge infrastructural gap. However, infrastructure investments in Nigeria have been insufficiently financed with public funds.The investments required to bridge the gap are clearly beyond the means available to government. Hence, it has become imperative to look beyond government finances for the country to have any hope of achieving its full development potential, he said.The DG of Budget Office who noted that the fiscal budget is a key tool for implementing government development agenda, said it designed to achieve social, economic and political objectives.Nigerias public investment requirements by far exceed available financial resources. Nigeria is not an oil rich economy. We will ensure that funds are allocated to projects and programmes likely to deliver maximum benefits relative to their costs, he said.Earlier in his words, the Chairman of the Centre for Economic Policy and Development Research, Prof. Evans Osabuohien, said the rising debt profile of the country is destroying the economy.The professor of economics, who expressed shock at the federal governments recent plans to borrow $22.7bn, said government must count the cost of its continuous borrowing habitOne of the highlights of the joint sessions of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in October 2019 was that the debt profile of many developing countries, including Nigeria, is rising. Despite all these, it is shocking to know that the federal government of Nigeria is planning to borrow $22.7bn. This will further increase the volume of Nigerias debt.
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