By Tony Obiechina, Abuja

As Nigeria government prepares budget 2022, business leaders and

economists have cautioned the Federal Government on the need for

productive disbursement of billion-dollar loans being incurred by the

administration.

At a webinar organised by Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry

(ACCI) and moderated by the Executive Director National Chamber Policy

Centre, Mr.

application of loans to cover recurrent expenditures while also

expressing apprehension over the servicing of debt with over 90

percent of national earnings.

Speakers and participants drawn from business and private sectors at

the virtual meeting held Tuesday were joined by the Statistician

General of the Federation, Dr.

Responsibility Commission, Victor Muruako, President, Manufacturer

Association of Nigeria (MAN), Engr. Mansur Ahmed and others in

dissecting the implementation of budget 2021 and review of 2022 budget

proposal.

Economists who delivered papers at the webinar include Mr. Olusegun

Zaccheaus on behalf of KPMG, Dr. Lukman Oyelami a lecturer at the

Universityof Lagos and Dr. Ibrahim Ayuba a faculty member of ACCI BEST

Centre.

Welcoming the participants at the virtual meeting, the President of

ACCI, Dr. Al-Mujtaba Abubakar identified multiple challenges facing

the economy and urged the government to support the private sector if

the national economy is to truly turn the right corner.

He said the economic climate worldwide is challenging as nations

struggle to cope with fallout of the pandemic adding that across

Africa, governments are struggling to innovate and achieve

stabilisation after global disruption that is still reverberating in

many parts of the world.

“For us in Nigeria, the economy faces multiple challenges even as

government makes the best out of the very complex situation by

focusing on infrastructural development and innovative financing. In

the face of dwindling revenue, borrowing has become inevitable

generating concerns about debt distress. Inflation rate is

continuously high. The recent second quarter GDP growth while

commendable has not assuaged the structural hiccups within the

economy. Amidst high unemployment, the cost of doing business is

skyrocketing as businesses suffer under the hammer of multiple

taxation.

“Budget 2021 should therefore be seen and reviewed within the context

of global economic recession and dislocation of global production

value chains. While successes are recorded in the completion of

critical infrastructures, the state of insecurity has complicated the

productive processes within the agricultural sector. An already

negative situation was further worsened by the dwindling fortunes of

naira against other major currencies. This is coming at a time of low

export and high import which negatively impacted on the nation’s

foreign reserves.”

The Statistician General of the Federation, Mr. Simon Harry in his

presentation said stringent measures should be taken against rent

seeking mentality to curtail volatility in the forex market in other

to eliminate shadow economy of the parallel market.

Represented by his technical adviser, Mr. Daniel Amba he said,

automation of the processes will go a long a way in checking linkages

in the system and help save time and checkmate corruption adding that

consolidation on CBN interventions will boost output that will lead to

decline of food inflation.

The Chairman Fiscal Commission, Barr. Marouko also said, it is

imperative to always assess budget proposals and implementation, so as

to control expenditures and predict future budget needs, thereby

providing decision makers with the information they need to prepare

the budget for the next fiscal period.

The Chairman who was represented by the Director Policy and Standard,

Abutu Hyacinth also said, processes for comparing 2021 budget to

actual results, together with the analysis of a diverse set of

indicators will be undertaken to gauge the overall performance towards

best inform analysis and consideration of the 2022 budget proposals.

Also speaking, an Economist Dr. Oyelami said debt service revenue

ratio is very worrisome and the government should look into these

issues, adding that debt service/revenue ratio is becoming worrisome

while urging government to restrategise to generate more revenue.

“Nigeria needs to be more realistic about revenue projections adding

that ist obvious government is not generating enough to cover

expenditure which is not really scary but inability to generate enough

to cover recurrent expenditure is really a bad omen.”

A faculty member ACCI BEST Centre, Dr. Ayuba said we should focus on

the viability of non-oil sectors such as agriculture, mining,

leathers, others to have a structure market, improve value chain and

help increase exportation of finished products.