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Budget of Appraisal
Monday, November 15, 2004
Text of the 2005 Budget Speech by His Excellency, Alhaji (Dr.) Abdullahi Adamu (Sarkin Yakin Keffi) Executive Governor of Nasarawa State, Presented to the Nasarawa State House of Assembly on Monday, November 15, 2004
This brief but important ceremony is for the purposes of laying before this honourable house the state's appropriation bill for the 2005 fiscal year. The appropriation bill is the most important piece of legislation in the state. It provides the legal framework for the disbursement of our financial resources to the various sectors of our economy. The executive originates the bill but its final shape reflects the collective thoughts, hopes and aspirations of the executive and the legislature.
We dare say that the framers of our constitution who made it mandatory for the legislature to make the appropriation bill a legal document had the preceding point in mind. In laying this bill before this honourable house today, we are doing more than fulfilling a constitutional obligation. We are inviting the distinguished representatives of our people to dialogue with us over the prudent and effective management of our financial and human resources for our lasting common benefits. We are inviting them to dream our dreams. We are inviting them to share our hopes and ambitions. We are inviting them to be our partners in our determination to squarely face the critical challenges of the new century in our state. It is the call of the people on the representatives of the people for the sake of the people.
This honourable house has been a shining example of executive-legislative relationship in a developing democracy. The cordial executive-legislative relationship in the state is born out of a sense of duty. It must so remain. There is nothing to worry about, if occasionally, the graph of our relationship shows some hills and valleys. These dips in the graph show normal human interactions. This is neither unusual nor unexpected. Without them, we would not learn and we would not progress. Tiffs must be tips on building stronger executive-legislative relationships. But the task before us being so enormous and the time being so short, we must minimise disagreements and maximise agreements. We cannot afford to dissipate valuable energy on issues that detract us from our committed service to the people. We salute the honourable speaker and the honourable members for being one with us in the task of transforming our state and its people. It is a tough task but if we do not do it, who will?
Mr. Speaker, honourable members, the moral strength of this administration is its openness and accountability. Even our worst detractors can say yes to that. We are an open book. We are open to the people in the best tradition of an open, democratic and responsible government. Those who fished in our backyards in search of non-existent smoking guns, found only the pieces of their broken dreams. Please tell them we are sorry they laboured in vain.
The 2005 budget is a Budget of Appraisal. The title of the budget may be unusual but it accords with our philosophy of guided development. The peculiar importance of the 2005 budget lies in the fact that it is a mid-term budget in our second four-year term of office. We can stand on it and look to the future of our state. But we chose to stand on it and look to the immediate past. We want to appraise what we have done so far and weigh it against what we set out to do. This form of appraisal is critical to strategic thinking and planning. It compels us to ask ourselves some soul-searching questions, the answers to which will tell us what needs to be done. This, then, is the underlying philosophy of the 2005 budget. This philosophy should guide this honourable house too as it deliberates on the sectoral and the sub-sectoral allocations in the appropriation bill.
This honourable house would recall that we budgeted a little over twenty billion Naira in the fiscal year, 2004. However, in order to meet up with some critical demands in the course of the year, we sought and obtained legislative approval for a supplementary budget of three billion Naira. In effect, the 2004 budget came to the sum of N23,069,008,871.00 (Twenty-three billion, Sixty-nine million, Eight Thousand, Eight hundred and seventy-one Naira). The supplementary budget was essentially for the construction of Sisinbaki-Farin Ruwa, Lafia bye-pass and Doma-Agyaragu roads. We expect to award the contracts for these roads before the end of the year.
We did not meet all our expectations in that budget, mostly as a result of external factors over which we had no control. In the course of the year, the federal government's determination to fully deregulate the downstream sector of the oil industry led to increases in the prices of petroleum products. This led to protests and the disruption of work by labour. The latest of such protests is staring us even now in the face.
The price increases had a negative impact on the economy. It triggered increases in the prices of food and essential commodities and transportation. A higher inflation weakened the purchasing power of the Naira. We would be dishonest not to admit that our workers, particularly the low-income earners, were badly affected by this development in the nation's economy. However, we are glad that the federal government has taken some steps to provide some palliative measures to cushion the effect of these price increases on the people. We fully support the federal initiative. Under these measures, the federal government has drastically reduced import duties on all drugs and medicaments to only five per cent. Similarly, duties on buses have been reduced from 22 to ten per cent. Arrears of scholarship and bursary awards are also to be promptly paid to beneficiaries by federal and state governments.
A major aspect of these palliative measures is a joint federal and state financial assistance to bona fide transporters to buy more buses to ply our roads. It is hoped that with more buses on the roads, there will be a healthy competition among transporters and this in turn will force down transport fares for the benefit of the people. The combined effect of these measures would be a lighter burden on the people.
We promise here and now that this administration shall fully implement the palliative measures in the state. A committee will soon be set up to come up with the blue print for a full and unimpeded implementation of the palliative measures. The success of this scheme requires patience on the part of all of us. We, therefore, call on the Nigerian Labour Congress and its affiliates to give this measure a chance by shelving their planned strike action. The strike action will further weaken the economy through the disruption of work and services. It is an ill wind that will blow none of us any good.
Mr. Speaker Sir, honourable members, in the 2005 fiscal year, the state government proposes a total budgetary allocation of N25,417,487,162.00 (Twenty-five billion, Four Hundred and seventeen million, Four Hundred and Eighty-seven thousand, One hundred and Sixty-two Naira). This is a little over two billion more than our total allocation for 2004. This improvement in our financial resources would be made possible by a combination of factors, namely, a higher crude oil price in the international market; a new revenue allocation formula which is expected to give a higher allocation to the states as well as the release of the state share of the excess crude fund in twelve tranches from early next year. More importantly, we expect a significant improvement in our internally generated revenue. Our expectation is based on a new mechanism for improved generation and collection of internally-generated revenue. This new mechanism was recommended by the committee set up during the year to examine our internal revenue-generation system and recommend appropriate ways to improve it. The committee did a commendable job. We say a big thank you to its distinguished chairman and members.
The most significant feature of the 2005 budget is that for the first time, capital vote exceeds recurrent expenditure. While recurrent expenditure takes N11,237,068,337.00, capital vote takes N14,180,418,162.00. This is a most welcome development. It is also a watershed in our budgetary system. Only last year, we bemoaned the national trend whereby recurrent expenditures are consistently higher than capital votes. We promised to change the trend here. We have done it.
The full details of the sectoral and sub-sectoral allocations are neatly laid out in the appropriation bill. We need not go over them in the course of this address. However, it is important for us to spell out, even if briefly, the guiding philosophy of our priorities in the 2005 budget.
In 2003 we set up a committee to appraise all our projects. The committee submitted its report on 28th July 2004. We are happy with the report. It shows that this administration has been true to its promises to the people. It also shows that we have been prudent in the management of our lean financial resources; we have been pragmatic in the choice of our development projects and we have been even handed in the distribution of social amenities and development projects. We took the report and the recommendations of the appraisal committee into consideration in the preparation of the 2005 budget. You can see why we christened it "A Budget of Appraisal".
As you obviously know, the hydro-electric independent power plant at Farin Ruwa now under construction, is the single biggest project undertaken by the state government so far. This project is both an economic and industrial development infrastructure. We are pleased to report this honourable house that the project is fully on course and will be completed within its contract period.
In the 2005 budget proposal before you, education takes the lion share of N4,115,898,842 (Four Billion, One Hundred and Fifteen Million, Eight Hundred and Ninety-eight Thousand, Eight Hundred and Forty-two Naira). Education remains our number one priority because it is the pivot of modern development and progress. Our state is backward relative to some other states in the country because of its relative backwardness in education. It is sterile to bemoan the situation. It is fruitful to tackle our educational backwardness. We remain committed to it without any apologies.
We are pleased with the progress of the state university. Its impact on our manpower development is already being felt. Even if our detractors lack the courage to commend our foresight in the university project, they now know they were wrong and we were right.
The university is the biggest and most ambitious of our educational development projects. But the true secret of the giant leap in our educational development lies in our systematic approach to it. The foundation of a sound educational system is the primary school. Secondary and tertiary institutions are built on this foundation. Our approach, to borrow a term from the chicken farmer, is a feed system in which the primary school feeds the secondary school and the secondary school feeds the tertiary institution all the way to the apex, the university. Today, a child in this state who is desirous of education from the lowest level to the pinnacle of his educational career lacks neither the place nor the opportunity for his worthy pursuit. Were we in the navy, we would say, Nasarawa State ahoy!
In the course of the year, we created a new ministry of science and technology. This ministry is critical to our scientific and technological advancement. No one today needs to be persuaded that a meaningful economic and social development in a society is a direct product of science and technology. The primary responsibility of this new ministry is to provide administrative and advisory expertise for our manpower development in science and technology. Our budgetary allocation to education in 2005 will fund on-going and, where necessary, new projects in that sector.
Health care delivery, rural development and increased agricultural production have similarly featured every year as priorities in our budgets. We maintain them as such in next year's budget. There is clear and incontestable evidence that we have made tremendous progress in all these sectors. During the year, we beefed up our medical manpower with the employment of ten medical personnel from Korea and Cyprus. If we may also borrow a term from the military, the 2005 budget will primarily finance our mopping up operations in these important sectors.
The quality of our manpower is predicated on healthy bodies and healthy minds. This is achievable only in the context of a comprehensive health care delivery system in which preventive and curative care provides mutual support for one another. The health sector takes N1,601,819,353b (One Billion, Six Hundred and one Million, Eight Hundred and Nineteen Thousand, Three Hundred and Fifty-three Naira) in the 2005 budget.
In the 2004 budget, we promised to build a general hospital in every local government or development headquarters where there is none. In keeping with this promise, the construction of new government hospitals at Panda in Panda development area, Angbashim in Ekye development area and Mararaba-Udege in Udege development area has been completed. We will begin to equip them before the end of the year. We are also pleased to say that contract documentation for new hospitals at Kadarko, Agyaragu, Agwada, Lafia and Mada Station, is in the process of completion. As soon as it is ready, contracts for these hospitals will be awarded.
Mr. Speaker, honourable members, this administration does not pay lip service to the welfare of the people. To us, health for all is not an empty slogan. It is a commitment.
We have allocated N1,383,518,024b (One Billion, Three Hundred and Eighty-three Million, Five Hundred and Eighteen Thousand, twenty four Naira) to agriculture in the 2005 budget. Nasarawa is proud to be an agrarian state. A nation or a community that cannot feed itself is an eternally dependent nation or community. Our case is even peculiar. The bulk of the population is, to use a popular phrase, at the grassroots as peasant farmers. Our challenge is to change the face of agriculture and enhance agricultural productivity. Various measures have been taken in this regard. One of such measures is the purchase and distribution of tractors to co-operative societies in every local government and development area. Thirty-nine of these tractors have already been distributed. The next batch of tractors will similarly be distributed before the next farming season. The beauty of this scheme is that our people will no longer hire tractors from other states.
Our rural development is a challenge this administration has faced squarely in the last five and half years. It is a moral crime for rural dwellers to be deprived of the basic things in life by reason of where they choose to live and make a living. We will not be found wanting here. We have brought technical experts from China and Korea to assist in our agricultural production and water supply in the urban as well as in the rural areas in the state. The major project here will be the construction of four earth dams spread across the state. These dams will enhance agricultural productivity in the state through all season farming. To build up on our achievements in this sector, we have allocated N1,669,836,418b (One Billion, Six Hundred and Sixty-nine Million, Eight Hundred and Thirty-six Thousand, Four Hundred and Eighteen Naira) to rural development.
In the public works sector, we have continued to ensure the construction and maintenance of our rural roads, as well as the maintenance of existing government buildings. We are conscious of the need to maintain our existing infrastructure so that we can free resources for the construction of new facilities. Consequently, we have allocated the sum of N3,645,544,431b (Three Billion, Six Hundred and Forty-five Million, Five Hundred and Forty-four Thousand, Four Hundred and Thirty-one Thousand Naira) to the Ministry for Works and Transport in the 2005 fiscal year.
Poverty, one of the greatest enemies of mankind, is still a stark and disturbing reality of our national life. It will not submit to sloganeering or even emotional preachments. It will submit only to an informed and practical determination on our part to uproot it and free the people from it grip. A society polarized into extreme wealth and extreme poverty is a society sitting on a keg of gun powder.
The state government has always taken cognizance of this factor in its approach to poverty reduction as a process towards its ultimate eradication. But let us not entertain any illusions about this. Poverty cannot disappear over night. Our economic empowerment initiative, designed within the broad national philosophy enshrined in the Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy, NEEDS, is a practical, well thought out programme for a sustained attack on poverty in the state. To this end, we disbursed N53 million to youths in the state to finance their individual projects. The success of this scheme will open employment opportunities to more and more youths until we have none of them wearing out their shoes in search of jobs any more. Self-employment is the surest path to personal economic freedom.
To further encourage self-employment, the state government introduced a micro-credit scheme for small and medium scale enterprises. We are saddened by the fact that some of the beneficiaries of this scheme are trying to defeat it. They are not repaying the loan. However, we will not allow them to defeat the scheme. We are taking appropriate steps to recover the money so that others will benefit from the scheme.
Our judiciary retains its pride of place in the budget. We are happy to note that our judiciary has continued to perform creditably. We shall continue to assist this third arm of government in the administration of justice in the state.
The traditional institution remains a symbol of our diverse culture and tradition. It is an institution we must continue to revere because without it, the bottom falls out of our cultural foundation. This administration has never equivocated in its support for the traditional institution. During the year, we gave staff of office to several traditional rulers, most of them in their higher status as graded traditional rulers. We also provided them with cars to enhance their mobility and social status. Our royal fathers must take their primary role as custodians of our culture and tradition seriously. It is equally their duty to police peace and harmony within and outside their domains. We urge them to be vigilant. They can count on our full and unconditional support at all times.
Mr. Speaker, honourable members, the document we place before you today is not a perfect document although we did our best to make it perfect within our limitations as human beings. However, the 2005 appropriation bill is a thoughtful document. Its primary goal, like the goals of our previous budgets, is to move us, one step at a time, towards our ultimate destination, which is a modern, egalitarian Nasarawa State. We are the current architects of both the present and the future of our beloved state. If we all do more than our prescribed duty; if we share in the vision of this administration; if we put service to the state and its people over and above our own personal interests; if we make some sacrifices today, no matter how little, for a greater tomorrow, then our partnership, forged on the anvil of commitment and selfless service, will begin to bear the desired fruit. What is more, the people of Nasarawa State will have a bright and secure future.
Thank you and God bless.
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