BY VICTORIA ONU, ABUJA
WITHIN a five-year period, covering 2015 to 2019, the Federal Government recorded a funding gap of N3.03trn in the implementation of capital projects of Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
The amount was arrived at based on an analysis of the budgetary provisions of each year and the respective budget implementation reports as obtained from the Budget Office of the Federation.
Figures obtained from the Budget Office showed that during the five-year period, the total amount allocated for capital projects was N9.64trn, while the actual amount released during the period was estimated at N6.61trn.
This resulted in a funding shortfall of about N3.03trn during the five-year period.
A breakdown of the figure showed that in the 2015 fiscal period, about N722.2bn was allocated for capital projects, out of which N557bn was actually released. This resulted in a funding gap of N165.2bn.
For 2016, the government approved the sum of N1.58trn for capital projects out of the total annual budget of N6.06trn, analysis by The Point showed.
From the N1.58trn budgeted for capital projects in 2016, the sum of N1.21trn was released, leaving a deficit of N368bn.
Further analysis of the data from Budget Office revealed that out of the N2.36trn allocated for capital projects in 2017, N1.56trn was actually released by government. This resulted in a funding shortfall of about N800bn.
In 2018, the Federal Government released the sum of N2.07trn for the execution of capital projects out of the budgeted amount of N2.87trn. This caused a funding gap of N800bn.
The amount, which was released by the Ministry of Finance to cover various capital projects as approved in the national budget of each of the four years, excludes the trillions of naira spent on recurrent expenditure, the analysis found.
Findings revealed that the inability of the Federal Government to effectively fund the capital components of the annual budgets was due to revenue shortfall.
In the 2018 fiscal period, for instance, the Federal Government could only achieve 58 per cent of its budgeted revenue target.
Finance and economic experts who spoke on the development urged the Federal Government to broaden its revenue sources in order to raise adequate revenue to finance capital projects.
They also called on the Federal Government to review its participation in some programmes to reduce the undue burden of funding key infrastructure projects.
This, they claimed, would reduce the need for borrowing and the demand for funds to pay back and service debts.
The Lead Director, Centre for Social Justice, Eze Onyekpere, said that if the Federal Government was to achieve its plan to take 100 million people out of poverty in the next 10 years, more funds needed to be channeled into capital projects.
He said, “Generally, our revenue projections have severally missed the mark over the years.
“The projections and forecasts suffer from lack of realism. In 2016, revenue projections fell short by 23 per cent; in 2017, they fell short by 47.73 per cent and in 2018, by 45 per cent.
“This indicates that overall, a good part of our revenue projections have not been based on empirical evidence.
“Further, if projected revenue in 2018 was N7.1trn and we missed the mark by 45 per cent and have also missed the mark by 30 per cent in the half year of 2019, the further increase in projected revenue to N8.15trn in 2020 seems to be hanging in the air.”
He said the revenue projections for 2020 should have been greatly influenced by the trend and actuals of 2018 and 2019 except there had been a dramatic change in economic circumstances warranting the new projection.
He also faulted the 2020 budget, stating that the fiscal document contained expenditures that were “frivolous, inappropriate, unclear and wasteful.”
Also, a former Director-General of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chijioke Ekechukwu, said that government should ensure there was fiscal responsibility and discipline in its expenditure.
He said, “Government should however, try everything within its powers to ensure full implementation and disbursement of the budget figures so that the impact can be felt by the ordinary people of Nigeria.
“Government should also ensure there is Fiscal responsibility and discipline. Our revenue generation mechanism has to be more robust and strategic.”
