Budget 2018 as SGF’s first baptism of fire

Having a rancour-free presentation of the budget was the issue the newly appointed Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, ran into hours after his appointment. Group Politics Editor, Taiwo Adisa and Kolawole Daniels examine Mustapha’s shuttle diplomacy ahead of 2018 budget presentation.

The 2018 Budget process was wrought with hiccups all the way. A meeting between the leadership of the National Assembly (the Presiding officers and the Principal officers), who are twenty in all, was disrupted when security operatives stopped a bus conveying the lawmakers at the gate of the Presidential Villa, Aso Rock.

Reports had it that the security operatives insisted that the officials must subject themselves to security screening with the exception of the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara. That infuriated Saraki, the Chairman of the National Assembly, who insisted he and the Speaker would not proceed unless the other principal officers were allowed entry. Incidentally the 20 men and women were all riding in a National Assembly coaster bus.

Despite the quick intervention of the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, who rushed to Saraki’s residence to douse the tension, the meeting with the President had to be shifted by a week. The meeting eventually held on the last day of October, whereas the initial target was to be done with the consultative meeting and present the national budget in the last week of October.

Even when the National Assembly leaders visited the President, the tension appeared to grow higher. The lawmakers, at closed sessions, were angry that the executive had failed to implement the 2017 budget and that most of the ministries were recording only 11 percent capital implementation.  The anger spread within the senate and the House and the President was going to face a restive assembly on November 7.

A signal to that was displayed in the House the day Speaker Dogara presented the President’s letter seeking to present the 2018 budget.

Lawmakers in the green chamber booed the letter and shouted ‘nay’ but the Speaker had to remind them that the constitution does not permit them to reject such a request, which has to do with money bill, a critical assignment of the lawmakers.

A day to the joint session, the tension in the National Assembly over the presentation of the budget was fever pitch. Lawmakers were unhappy that the 2017 budget had gone largely unimplemented and that the year 2018 was practically an election year.

The season for scorecards is here and most senators and members have got nothing to show their communities for their tenure so far,” said a committee chairman, who was championing the push against the joint session. At that stage, nobody was sure the budget presentation would hold as Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara embarked on last minute efforts to save the day. They held sessions with the different zonal caucuses in attempts to douse the tense atmosphere.

The newly appointed Secretary to the Government of the Federation,(SGF) thus had his job well cut out for him as he assumed office in this milieu. He had to make quick interventions and embark on shuttle diplomacy to the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Mustapha immediately dispatched to the National Assembly a day before the Joint sitting for the Presentation of the budget where he met with Saraki and Dogara.

Saraki at the meeting said: “Let me on behalf of my colleagues welcome you to the Senate and let me thank you for your visit..

‘I think your visit is very symbolic. It is truly a new phase of cooperation between the Executive and the Legislature and a good omen for our democracy and for our government.

‘I got the notice rather short but it was important that we meet. Your visit truly shows your intention of ensuring that you use your period as SGF to ensure that we truly work together to make Nigeria great.

‘You are very right and I think people like us are not surprised because we know your antecedents. You know that in the presidential system that we are running in this democracy, it is not possible for us to be able to achieve all our goals if the Executive and Legislature do not have – not just an okay relationship – a fantastic and very close relationship.

“And what you have done this afternoon has really brought that closer and I am sure that all my colleagues are going to appreciate that on the floor tomorrow when I communicate this to them.

“Truly, you have started on a very good note and I congratulate you. Thank you for all your kind words when you talked about some of the work we have done in the past together in bringing the government together and we will continue to work together to ensure that we deliver on our promises.

“As you said, the constitution is very clear on what our responsibilities are. You did not write it and I did not write it, neither did any of us in the National Assembly today but we have all sworn to it and we must continue to ensure that we work with it and we work for the interest of Nigeria..

“Let me assure you that being the first SGF that we have received here, you will definitely get our cooperation. This will definitely be a new page and we will do all our best to ensure that whatever the issues are before you, we will act to see how best we can resolve them and work together. I thank you for coming.”

The SGF also told the Senate President that the executive and the legislature were not competing, adding that he was in the National Assembly to extend hand of fellowship as partners in progress.

He said: “Let me start by thanking the President of the Senate and the Principal Officers of the Senate for graciously receiving me and the team of Permanent Secretaries that have accompanied me on this trip this very afternoon.”

He also assured the lawmakers that he would work to ensure that “the National Assembly receives the cooperation it desires with the executive adding that “if we work together, whatever has been lost in the past we can quickly redeem and recover and make progress so that by the time the first four-year mandate that we received comes to an end we can show on our scorecard that these were the promises we made.”

He added; “We are here sir, on a courtesy call to truly thank you personally for taking out time to attend my swearing-in ceremony as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and to also convey the gratitude of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari and the entirety of the government on the able leadership that you have given the National Assembly as a whole.

“Let me put it on record that your leadership has helped tremendously in stabilising the polity and also given the purposeful direction that we require at the Presidency to ensure that we deliver on the promises that we made to the Nigeria people when we sought for their mandate in 2015.

“If the National Assembly does not cooperate with the Presidency, I am not very sure we will be able to achieve the desired result that we want to see given the mandate that we have freely received from the people of Nigeria.

“So, this is basically to come and assure you that in every area that you are soliciting for the cooperation of the Presidency, being the Secretary to the Government, I would ensure that the National Assembly receives that cooperation because jointly if we work together, whatever has been lost in the past we can quickly redeem and recover and make progress so that by the time the first four-year mandate that we received comes to an end we can show on our scorecard that these were the promises we made.”

At his meeting with the Speaker, the SGF further assured of cooperation between the two arms of government. He also maintained that that contrary to beliefs in some quarters, the Legislature and the Executive are not rivals in the governance process.

The Speaker had held a closed session with the SGF in company of some of the principal officers. The Speaker while applauding the new SGF for the visit said that, “it’s never been done. In those days it was invitations extended to them, then a discussion whether they’ll appear at all would ensue. In some cases, some members of the Executive would go to court on the basis of legislative summons.”

The Speaker, however, said that the House was ready to work with the executive arm of government, saying that “if this government fails, we all would have failed”. The Speaker however warned that the support the House is ready to give to the present executive led by President Muhammadu Buhari should not be taken for granted.

The Speaker also told the SGF that good working relationship between the National Assembly and the Executive would help drive home government policy, saying that, “once we buy into any government policy it will get to the grassroots”.

The SGF, in his speech, solicited the support of the House on government programmes, saying that, “we are joint partners in the project of Nigeria.” He equally said that the role of National Assembly is so important that the executive would not want to joke with, stressing that the government would need the help of National Assembly in domestication of treaties and agreements that would help the government.

The shuttle diplomacy must have swept the lawmakers off their feet as they practically jettisoned the antagonistic postures against President Muhammadu Buhari when he appeared on the floor of the House for the joint session.

Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus in the House, who had printed banners to protest the handling of the 2017 budget, had to keep the banners under their lockers as the intervention by the SGF appeared to have paid off. Even though the lawmakers were largely unhappy at the non-implementation of the 2017 budget, especially the constituency projects, they decided to stomach the anger and deal with things without embarrassing the President.

While the tension appeared to have simmered down in the senate as at the morning of November 7, the atmosphere was still hazy in the House, even on the D-Day. An executive session was held ahead of the President’s arrival in the Assembly to calm frayee nerves among the lawmakers including the members of the main opposition PDP, who appeared so angered by the level of implementation of the 2017 Appropriation Act.

Eventually nerves were calmed and President Muhammadu Buhari arrived the traditional venue in the House of Representatives to present the N8.6 trillion 2018 budget. It was some 16 percent higher than the N7.4 trillion appropriated in 2017 fiscal year.  Addressing lawmakers at the National Assembly, the president proposed recurrent cost of N3.5 trillion, debt service of N2.0 trillion, statutory transfer of about N456 billion, sinking fund of N220 billion (to retire maturing bond to local contractors), capital expenditure of N2.4 trillion (excluding the capital component of statutory transfers).

According to the President, “N456.46 billion was provided in the 2018 Budget for Statutory Transfers. The 5 percent increase over last year’s provision is mainly due to increases in transfer to Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), which are related directly to the size of oil revenue”.

On debt restructuring, he said that, “We are closely monitoring our debt service to revenue ratio. We shall address this ratio through our non-oil revenue-generation drive and restructuring of the existing debt portfolio.

“Presently, domestic debt accounts for about 79 percent of the total debt. Our medium-term strategy is to reduce the proportion of our domestic debt to 60% by the end of 2019 and increase external debt to 40 per cent. It is noteworthy that rebalancing our debt portfolio will enhance private sector access to domestic credit.

“In addition, annual debt service costs will reduce as external debts are serviced at lower rates and repaid over a longer period than domestic debt”, the President stated.

On recurrent expenditure,  the president disclosed that, “ a substantial part of the recurrent cost proposal for 2018 is for the payment of salaries and overheads in key Ministries providing critical public services such as:  N510.87 billion for Interior; N435.01 billion for Education; N422.43 billion for Defence and N269.34 billion for Health”.

On Personnel Costs, Buhari said:  “Personnel costs is projected to rise by 12 percent in 2018. Although we have made substantial savings by registering MDAs on the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) platform, the increase is mainly due to provision for staff promotion arrears, and recruitments by the Military, Police Force and para-military agencies.

“Furthermore, I have directed agencies are not to embark on any fresh recruitment unless they have obtained all the requisite approvals. Any breach of this directive will be severely sanctioned.

“Overhead Costs is projected to rise by N26 billion in 2018, a modest increase of about 12 percent reflecting inflationary adjustments. MDAs are required to adhere to government regulations regarding cost control”, the President hinted.

On Capital Expenditure, the President maintained that, “to consolidate on the momentum of the 2017 Budget’s implementation, many ongoing capital projects have been provided for in the 2018 Budget.

This is in line with our commitment to appropriately fund ongoing capital projects to completion. By allocating 30.8 percent of the 2018 Budget to capital expenditure, the Federal Government is also demonstrating its strong commitment to investing in critical infrastructure capable of spurring growth and creating jobs in the Nigerian economy.

To this end, the President said that, “key capital spending allocations in the 2018 Budget include: Power, Works and Housing: N555.88 billion; Transportation: N263.10 billion; Special Intervention Programmes: N150.00 billion; Defence: N145.00 billion;  Agriculture and Rural Development N118.98 billion; Water Resources: N95.11 billion; Industry, Trade and Investment: N82.92 billion; Interior: N63.26 billion; Education N61.73 billion; Universal Basic Education Commission: N109.06 billion; Health: N71.11 billion; Federal Capital Territory: N40.30 billion; Zonal Intervention Projects N100.00 billion; North East Intervention Fund N45.00 billion; Niger Delta Ministry: N53.89 billion; and  Niger Delta Development Commission: N71.20 billion.

As usual, the Senate President and the Speaker spoke on the heels of the budget presentation. Saraki harped on revenue from taxes as well as independent revenues from State-Owned Enterprises if the 2018 budget is going to be properly funded, adding that at this period “we cannot afford to turn a blind eye to revenue under-performance”

He advocated for the review of extant laws guiding the operation of some government enterprises explaining that “I would urge for more determined effort on the part of the Executive, to plug leakages”

Acording to him “this sector alone accounts for over 40 trillion naira in valuation, of which less than 400 billion naira is remitted as revenue to the Consolidated Federation Account. This is not acceptable. We need to vigorously address this area”

He disclosed that there is the need to review agreements that government has signed with some private sector service providers saying that “ many of these agreements are biased, and clearly, not in the interest of the country.”

He however called on the managers of parastatals and agencies to submit their budget  “with this budget presentation, as stipulated by the constitution”

He stated that all hand must be on deck to ensure that these are passed by the end of the year adding that those parastatals and agencies that fail to submit their budget along with the 2018 budget must be “sanction and deny access to capital expenditure unless budget is passed”

While speaking at the budget presentation session, Speaker of the House of Representatives,  Honourable Yakubu Dogara expressed displeasure over executive/legislature relationship, saying that the development was affecting the progress of work in nation building.

The Speaker however commended members of the Senate and House for their “patriotism and sense of national purpose in providing the peaceful enabling environment for Mr. President to deliver his Budget Address”.

According to him: “The success of this event separates us as true Leaders who in the midst of a hazy Executive – Legislative relationship elected not to turn on ourselves but to turn to each other in the very interest of our constituents and national progress.

The Speaker however commended members of the Senate and House for their “patriotism and sense of national purpose in providing the peaceful enabling environment for Mr. President to deliver his Budget address”.

According to him, “The success of this event separates us as true Leaders who in the midst of a hazy Executive – Legislative relationship elected not to turn on ourselves but to turn to each other in the very interest of our constituents and national progress.

“This is the way we must go as our Constitutional Order is organised in a way that deliberately denies any of the three Arms the strength to go at it alone on any national issue. Where that has happened, it’s progress that suffers. That reminds us of the adage that says, “If you want to go fast, go alone but if you want to go far, go together”.

“Examples abound on how fast but not far, the Executive have gone on some national issues where they have decided to go alone. There is no national challenge we cannot overcome if we work together,” he stated.