Only the political will by the Federal Government to achieve an improved implementation of the 2013 budget will justify the early passage of the document.
Some financial experts and economists said this while commenting on the early passage of the N4.99tn budget.
The National Assembly had on Dec. 20 formally passed the budget after slightly raising the total figure by N63bn. The initial proposal by President Goodluck Jonathan was N4.924tn.
The passage by the Senate and House of Representatives made it the first in about 13 years of democratic rule that the budget would be passed ahead of the financial year.
Members of the House had warned that with the early passage, the executive had no reason to fail in fully implementing the budget.
Towing the same line, an economist and financial analyst, Mr. Biodun Adedipe, told Saturday PUNCH that the early passage of the budget was a positive step. But he tasked the FG to hit the ground running so as to achieve the financial plans set for 2013.
Adedipe said he expected that Jonathan would read the budget as part of his national address on Jan. 1.
"That is how it was done even under the military rule.
"In the 90s, budget overviews were presented during the speech of the head of state on Jan. 1, and about a week after, the minister of finance will address stakeholders on the details. After that has been done, actions are taken towards executing outlined projects.
"We should have it read by Jonathan on Jan. 1, 2013. It is a sign of seriousness to realise the Vision 20:20:20. Implementation is germane; even if it is not 100 per cent, we must have something better this time around," he said.
Another economist and Chief Executive Officer, Financial Derivatives Company Ltd., Mr. Bismarck Rewane, said the early passage was commendable. But he was quick to add that the most important point is to work towards a better implementation.
Rewane said, "A budget is basically a tool for planning; the discipline of implementation is crucial. I would have said that there is nothing significant about the early passage, except we focus on the implementation."
Meanwhile, a political economist, Prof. Pat Utomi, said that for 12 years, he had taken the position of not discussing or reading the budget. He said this stemmed from the lack of commitment of the relevant agencies to the budget.
Utomi said, "It's as if Nigerian leaders just present and pass budgets for the mere purpose of doing so.
"It is supposed to be a document showing a plan of how the nation intends to spend money for the year in all sections of the economy. For me, a budget should show a well-thought out vision for the country, but that is not seen here."
A business administrator and president of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria, Chief Lugard Aimiuwu, had told Saturday PUNCH that it was important for the FG to break the jinx of delayed passage of budgets.
He said that was crucial to realising Nigeria's goal of becoming one of the best 20 economies of the world by 2020.
Aimiuwu said the budget provides the policy direction and spending specifications for the economy; thus it is capable of influencing living standard of the citizens.
The implication is that the Human Development Index, which measures the wellbeing of a nation's citizens in terms of education, wealth and life expectancy, will remain on a low rating, sending a negative signal about the economy to the world.
He added that implementation remained the hallmark of the budget, which is an instrument outlining the way the government plans to bring succour to its citizens on the short and long term bases.
Aimiuwu said that the delay in passing the budget in the past financial years had jeopardised the strategic plan of Vision 20:20 and made Nigeria's manufacturing sector uncompetitive in the global market.
A breakdown of the budget shows that more focus will be on education, defence and police with the highest allocation of N1.095tn.
The budget shows that N387.9bn will go for statutory transfers, while N591.1bn goes for debt servicing. For recurrent non-debt expenditure N2.3trn was earmarked, while N1.6trn is for contribution to the development fund for capital expenditure for the year ending Dec. 31. All unutilised capital expenditure in the 2012 budget is expected to form part of the 2013 Appropriation Act.
Meanwhile, all standing committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives have indicated commitment to carrying out their oversight functions to ensure the full implementation of all capital projects.
