‘Budget of madness’

THAT the Federal Executive Council would hold a virtual meeting in this coronavirus season to approve N1.7 billion as contract fee to design a new runway for Abuja Airport is the definition of it is finished. To have the gut to announce it may suggest that runway may mean something than the ordinary to our rulers.

According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a runway is a defined rectangular area on a land. What is a rectangular area on a piece of land that all the engineers at the Ministry of Aviation cannot design except in a hopeless polity?

We didn’t start this financial insanity today. Take a trip round the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos today and you will find a replica of Schipol Airport. The former is on hard soil while the latter is on water. But the one on water costs half of the one on land.

The spending like a drunken sailor by Nigerian rulers is best captured by the recent budget adjustments in view of collapsing oil prices which can best be captured by the words of a Finance Commissioner in Ogun State who looked a Military Governor in the face and said his fiscal outlay was “a budget of madness”. But Vice-Admiral Augustus Aikhomu who was Chief of General Staff to the then Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida went to Abeokuta to define what the Military Governor was doing as misapplication of funds which was distinct from misappropriation of money.

The revised budget in view of revenue shortfalls would make thinking people to sound like that Ogun State Commissioner that Nigeria must be operating a “budget of madness” as we are behaving like that radical who was arrested while addressing a rally. He was kept in prison for a year and the day he was released, he went to the exact spot where he was arrested and said “As I was saying “.

If there was enough sanctified common sense, the attitude should have been like a brother of mine who was a big player in the stock market who after that great crash would always say “When I was a billionaire”.

The mostly criticized item in the original 2020 budget was the N37 billion allocated to refurbish the National Assembly Complex that is in a better shape than the houses 90 per cent of those in the hallowed chambers lived in before coming to Abuja. They should have taken that project out completely but they exposed themselves by slashing it. Now, how can you buy N37 billion renovation for N27 billion? Only in Nigeria!

The decayed state of the country’s health infrastructure made the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha to openly lament as PTF chairman that he never knew that the country’s health facilities were that appalling until the advent of Covid-19 but in the proposed revised budget, while the National Assembly complex renovation budget was reduced to N27.7 billion (a reduction of 25.1 per cent), the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, which is meant to cater for all the primary healthcare centres across the 774 local government areas in the country, was significantly reduced by N44.4 billion to N25.5 billion, a decrease of more than 42.5 per cent.

The BHCPF is made up of one per cent of the Federal Government Consolidated Revenue from international partners such as the World Bank, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development.

Shekau and his Boko Haram must be celebrating that their campaign against education is gaining ground as the Universal Basic Education Fund was also reduced significantly from N111 billion to N51.1 billion, by more than 54.2 per cent, according to data obtained.

The UBE is a reform programme aimed at providing greater access to quality basic education throughout Nigeria. It seeks to ensure an uninterrupted access to nine-year formal education by providing free, and compulsory basic education for every child of school-going age.

To demonstrate how unserious we are as a country, the budget for the National Assembly which was N128 billion was cut by only 10 per cent, bringing its revised total budget to N115.2 billion.

The same calculation was applied to the National Judicial Council as its N110 billion original budget was reduced by just 10 per cent, bringing it down to N99 billionn.

The revised budget vindicates those of us who have argued that there is no amount of resources that would come into the hands of Nigeria as is that would make any difference in development as the country is only structured for underdevelopment. It is an under -developing country.

A country that is not interested in development will not put its money on it .It is not an accident that the Yoruba area of Nigeria made great strides in education before strange children took over its soul. It put its money on education. In 1964/55 it was 41 per cent, 1955-56 was 34 per cent, 1956-57 was 28 per cent, 1957-58 was 38,5, 1958-9 was 41.2 per cent, 1959-60 was 32.3, 1960-61 was 38.5, 1961-62 was 39.2.

Those who are spending the money on touts and garage boys now are producing different results. The children of those Awo sent to school with those high figures are now among certificate forgers. I found it difficult to sleep the day Dr Tokunbo Awolowo Dosumu brought it home they we now have illiterate children born by educated parents in Yorubaland.

The seriousness with which Awo approached Odutola to ask for a loan to pursue his education showed his commitment to those he led later in life was total and it was seen in how he spent their money;

“As you are aware, I have just passed the intermediate Bachelor of Commerce Examination. Next year, I am taking the final B.Com. Having a degree is not my goal; I hate to be a government or mercantile employee. Otherwise, there are opportunities for me here and there to get a suitable and well paid job under government or one of the mercantile houses. As you know, however, once I become an employee of government or a mercantile establishment that is the end to my career as a politician and journalist. I have therefore resolved that under no circumstances will I take up such employment.

“That is just by the way. I am now thirty-four years of age. After careful thought, I have come to the conclusion that if I could raise a loan free of interest sufficient to cover expenses, I should go to England this year and within three years, I should qualify as a Barrister-at-law, and also obtain with Honours the LL.B Degree of London University. In addition, this degree apart from giving me good backing as a solicitor and Advocate will help me immensely as a politician and journalist. “(Excerpts from Awo’s letter).

But where on earth could I get the money? Who in Nigeria today could give £1400 free of interest to help his fellow-man? J. Henry Doherty, Esq. of illustrious memory who did the like to many successful Nigerians is no more. But after meticulous, shifting and weighing, I hit upon you.

“I have no doubt whatsoever in my mind that out of the bounty with which providence blesses your grit and efforts as a businessman, you can well easily afford to advance such a sum of money. I have no doubt too that as a young and progressive man you will be quite happy to give the money for the pursuit of the project for which I desire it”

How many of those who govern us today have developed serious ideas about life to build serious passion for society and develop ideas that can move it forward?

A lot of them even carry about forged versions of the minimum credentials!

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