2017 Budget: Policy Alert hails A/Ibom Government; Calls for increased transparency, reduced cost of governance

 The 2017 appropriation bill recently submitted to the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly by the state governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, has been applauded by Policy Alert for “its modest size and realistic macroeconomic projections”. 

 

The commendation was contained in a memorandum presented by the Acting Executive Director of the non-governmental organization, Tijah Bolton-Akpan, during a public hearing organized by the

House Committee on Appropriation and Finance at the state assembly complex, yesterday. He said: “At US$35 per barrel oil price benchmark and one million barrels per day projected oil output, the state’s 2017 budget is clearly based on more realistic and modest macro-economic assumptions than that of 2016”, and urged the House “to retain the macroeconomic fundamentals as proposed” in the Bill.

“We also advise the House to resist the temptation to review the budget size upwards” he added. 

 The group also commended government for raising capital spending to 53.1 percent of the total budgetary outlay, noting that “the capital budget is the fiscal muscle of development and at face value, the capital budget proportion is a signal that the government intends to take the business of development more seriously”. 

It however frowned at the poor implementation of the capital budget in recent years and urged the House of Assembly to “strengthen its oversight on budget implementation in the state to ensure that capital votes actually touch the ground and impact on the lives of citizens.” Bolton-Akpan also called on the House to “reduce personnel and overhead cost proposals in the appropriation bill”, noting:

 “The intention to spend 46.9% of the 2017 budget to service debts and administrative charges, run government overhead, pay salaries, pensions and gratuities and generally fund the machinery of government shows that the pro-capital posturing of the 2017 estimates actually masks a business-as-usual disposition when it comes to the cost of governance. It would appear that the predilection for running big government has refused to abate in spite of the biting effects of the recession on the state’s fiscal health over the last year.” 

 The memorandum also chided the government on what it termed its “dismal performance on fiscal transparency and accountability”, calling on the House and the executive to ensure online public access to budget documents such as the detailed annual budget, quarterly and annual budget implementation reports, annual Auditor General’s reports and the report of the Public Accounts Committee.