Abuja — The Senate, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties and the Academic Staff Union of Universities were unanimous that the proposed 2010 budget fell short of the people's expectations.

It was all harsh words on the 2010 budget as senators opened a debate on its general principles yesterday, barely 24 hours after it was laid on the table. Majority of them bemoaned in particular the poor implementation of previous budgets, particularly the 2009 appropriation, and doubted that the present one would be any different.

Most speakers on the floor were especially miffed that the recurrent expenditure is far higher than the capital expenditure and thus questioned the vision for investment and sustainable economic and infrastructural development.

Opening the debate, Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin, nonetheless urged his colleagues to critically examine the 2010 appropriation bill as it was anchored on the commitment of this administration to transform the socio-economic fortunes of the Nigerian people, by implementing a strategic plan for stimulating economic growth and launching the nation onto a sustainable development that would propel Nigeria into the top 20 economies in the world by the year 2020.

The purpose of the budget, he added, was to accelerate economic recovery through targeted fiscal interventions intended to further stimulate the economy and support private sector growth.

Capital expenditure, he continued, has been rationalised and prioritised to avoid spreading resources thinly across too many initiatives.

However, Folarin told his colleagues that there was a deliberate expansion in budgeting expenditure over that of previous fiscal years to counter the effect of the credit crunch on the economy, as well as to reduce the infrastructure gap.

"Accordingly, the aggregate expenditure for 2010 is N4.079 trillion, comprising N180.28 billion for statutory transfers, N517.07 billion for debt servicing, N2.011 trillion for recurrent non-debt expenditure and N1.371 trillion for capital expenditure. This represents a 31.5 percent expansion over the N3.102 trillion appropriated in 2009.

"The 2010 budget provides about 90 percent of MDAs' capital expenditure to six key priority sectors, namely: critical infrastructure, human capital development, land reform and food security, physical security, law and order and Niger Delta", he said.

But there was a near unanimity of the senators in condemning the executive's recalcitrance to fully implement budgets, and wondered whether it was worth it to continue debate on the current one, particularly on its expenditure pattern, which was high on overheads and small in investment and sustainable economic projects.

In his contribution, Senator Uche Chukwumerije (PPA, Abia) questioned the pattern, saying, "To what extent does this path to development sustain our present and secure our future?"

For instance, he said, youth's development, personnel and overheads with approximately N35 billion or 76.1 percent of the total allocation of N6 billion, while capital provisions take 29.3 percent.

Likewise in the health sector, he added, the personnel and overheads at N111 billion takes 68.5 percent of its total allocation while capital at N50 billion takes 30.9 percent. Similarly, in Education also the personnel and overheads at N195 billion take 78.3 percent of the total allocation of N249 billion while capital at N54 billion takes 21.7 percent.

Other senators who held similar opinion included Adeyemi Smart (PDP, Kogi), Ayim Chukwu Ude (PDP, Ebonyi), Patrick Osakwe (Accord, Delta), Anthony Agbo (PDP, Ebonyi), Victor Ndoma Egba (PDP, Cross River) Dahiru Awaisu Kuta (PDP, Niger), Maina (PDP, Adamawa), and Olurunimbe Mamora (AC, Lagos). They wondered at the rationale behind the huge allocation for recurrent expenditure as against capital expenditure.

Senator Adeyemi in particular pointed out that there was no difference between the 2009 budget and the current one, but only in figures, adding that it was even disheartening that the 2009 budget failed woefully to the extent that the fiscal year has been shifted to March next year to see if there could be an improvement in implementation.

In the same vein, Senator Ude said, "It is worrisome that the Senate sits here to approve budgets only for those at the Presidency to decide to do what with it, without minding the effect on the economy."

Senator Agbo, however, advocated a public hearing on the implementation of budgets in this country. "We don't even know what happens to the money we approve".

For Senator Ndoma-Egba, the cause of the poor budget implementation was because of the failure to respect the rule of law.

Senator Mamora said the administration that has not shown faith in little things should not be expected to show faith in big things. He blamed his colleagues for not being serious with their oversight duties, otherwise things would have been different.

Speaking to LEADERSHIP on the proposed budget for the education sector, which got a total of N249 billion, President of ASUU, Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie, said the budget fell short of expectations, as promised by the Federal Government with a view to turning the sector around.

According to Awuzie, "I saw them giving N249 billion to the education sector, but that does not even measure up to 10 percent of the total budget, and is a far cry from the UNESCO recommendation of 26 percent of the total budgetary allocation."

The ASUU president noted that there were no details to enable him ascertain what had been appropriated for capital budget, adding, "We are going to see the whole budget to enable us know what has been given to capital budget. It is only when we get the full details that we can comment appropriately on the budget."

On its part, the coalition of opposition parties, the CNPP, said though it had not studied the details of the proposed appropriation bill, it was bothered more with the poor implementation of capital budget in the preceding years - 2008 and 2009. It said the implementations were below 40 percent and the result was decayed infrastructure. The CNPP asked: "Who is sure this one will be implemented?"

The group also frowned at the dominance of recurrent over capital budget in the proposed budget. This, according to the CNPP, led to "jumbo allocation to the Presidency, National Assembly and other leakages, hence pork-barrel budget".