Bankers Seek End to Budget Delays in Nigeria

The President/Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Mr. Uche Olowu, has called on both the executive and legislature to put an end to the perennial delay in passage and implementation of the national budget.

Olowu, said this at a roundtable session on Nigeria’s economic outlook that took place in Lagos, recently,

According to the CIBN boss, the expectation generally was that the prospect of the country depends on the implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), which anchors the country’s industrialisation.

In view of this, he called on the federal government to ensure that the ERGP is faithfully, efficiently and speedily implemented.

“In addition, the country needs to rethink its strategy of handling some of its economic activities. For instance, according to the African Development Bank (ADB), Nigeria needs to re-orient its federal budget currently dominated by recurrent spending towards more capital expenditure and accumulating savings to sustain social spending. “Besides, delays in budget approval and signing have become predominant that it is not available for implementation in most cases in the first quarter and rare cases a better part of the second quarter over the past 15 years. “Incidentally, this year is not being an exception. This has led to uncertainty in the system, affecting the delivery of projects which has profound impact on productivity in the economy. I therefore wish to implore the executive and legislative arms of government to close ranks to release the budget on time,” Olowu said. He also urged the federal government to ratify the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) designed to create a single continental market for goods and services as well as the free movement of business persons and investments across the continent.