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| Last Updated: Jan 19th, 2012 - 11:25:19 |
Analysis/Commentary
Chief Economic Adviser explains budgetary focus
Mar 10, 2009, 15:41
| | The Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Dr Tanimu Yakubu, has assured Nigerians that adequate measures have been taken to address critical issues of poverty, epileptic power supply and the high cost of doing business in Nigeria, in the 2009 budgetary provisions.
According to him “from the President’s proposals, about six ministries, namely agriculture, power, petroleum, transport and aviation, accounted for 91 percent of the capital budget. These are largely provisions in critical infrastructural facilities in power, resuscitation of railways, dredging of the lower Niger River, maintenance and upgrade of some existing Federal Highways, the Niger Delta, Food Security and others. What this budget really tries to do is to bridge the infrastructural gap so that an increasing number of our industries can be as competitive as oil and gas
Dr Yakubu also said plans are underway to reintroduce long and medium plan development plans to address the current delay associate with annual budgeting
“If we had a five or three year Development Strategy, it simply means that all those projects to feature in the Federal Government budget in year one up to year five or year three, as the case may be, would have ab initio been cleared with the National Assembly. So all you do in subsequent years, having presented a clear view of the medium term expenditure plan is simply to continue with what has been started.
“I therefore believe that for us to make progress, we need to bring back that culture of three or five year development strategy
On the current crash of the Nigerian Stock Market, he said Government has embarked on measures to curb sharp practices in the market to restore the confidence of the investing public.
“Over the years, we have noted sharp practices in the market. Crooks have been able to undermine the market and never got punished for doing so. One of the things going to happen is that the Securities and Exchange Commission would begin to take out crooks from the market. It has not happened before, it will start happening”.
He also said the subsidy on petroleum is being reviewed because it was not benefiting the ordinary Nigerian
The Chief Economic Adviser was speaking recently on a Radio Nigeria Programme.
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