Less than two percent of the N12.2 trillion total budgets of the
federal and state governments will be spent on agriculture this year, Daily
Trust investigations have shown.
This is happening at a time of
the government's much trumpeted determination to move away from oil to
agriculture as the mainstay of the economy.
The federal government's
determination is reflected in its 2016 budget which, for the first time in over
40 years, is targeting more revenues from non-oil sources.
Over the past year oil prices
have continued to fall and there is no guarantee its volatility will end any
soon.
Analysis of the
combined expenditure of the federal and 30 state governments shows that they
will spend N196.33 billion (1.6 percent) on agriculture.
About half of these figures would
be expended on running the bureaucracies of the agric ministries and their
related agencies of forestry, rural development and water resources, among
others.
This figure is far below the 2003
AU-Maputo Declaration's Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme
(CAADP), which requires African countries to allocate at least 10 percent of
their annual budgets to agriculture and achieve 6 percent annual growth in
agricultural GDP.
CAADP is Africa's policy
framework for agricultural transformation, wealth creation, food security and
nutrition, economic growth and prosperity for all, which Nigeria is a
signatory.
In Maputo, Mozambique, in 2003,
the African Union (AU) Summit made the first declaration on CAADP as an
integral part of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
President of the National
Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS), Ken Ukaoha said this poor agric
funding contradicted the much touted diversification of the economy and job
creation mantra by the two tiers of government in the face of dwindling oil
revenue.
Ukaoha told Daily Trust that poor
budgeting by governments had suggested that Nigeria only signed the agreement
alongside other countries as a face saving measure.
He said Nigeria was still lagging behind other
African countries that surpassed the Maputo agreement on agric funding.
He added that Malawi was investing about 27
percent, Zambia, Burundi and Mali (10 percent); Niger (13 percent); and Sierra
Leone (3 percent) in agriculture.
Daily Trust analysis of the approved budgets
shows that the federal and 36 state governments will spend about N5.33 trillion
(43.7 percent of their N12.2 trillion budgets) on payment of salaries and other
costs of running their bureaucracies this year.
This is coming at a time of concerns over the
swollen recurrent expenditures in the face of dwindling oil revenues and low
votes for development projects.
The total amount earmarked for capital
projects by the central and the state governments this year is N5.04 trillion
(41.3 percent); N3.3 trillion for the states and N1.75 trillion for the federal
government.
The total budget carries a combined deficit
of N4.5 trillion (36.9 percent), which is made up of N2.3 trillion for the
states and N2.2 trillion for the federal government.
The federal government's budget of N6.06
trillion has recurrent expenditure component of N2.65 trillion (44 percent) and
N1.75 trillion (29 percent) for capital projects. The remaining balance of
N1.66 trillion (27 percent) was for debt servicing and statutory transfers.
Poor agric financing
Of its N6.1 trillion budget, the federal
government is spending N75.80 billion (1.26 percent) on agriculture and rural
development. N29.63 billion of the amount is for bureaucratic expenses, leaving
N46.17 billion for capital projects.
The federal government has been allocating
dismal figures to the sector since 2011. It budgeted 1.8 percent in 2011, 1.6
percent in 2012, 1.7 percent in 2013, 1.4 percent in 2014, and 0.9 percent in
2015.
The 30 states will spend N120.53 billion (2
percent) of their total budget of N6.1trillion on agriculture despite their
publicised commitment to the sector. Apart from the oil producing states of the
Niger Delta, the remaining states have agriculture as the mainstay of their
economy.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201606141038.html
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