A’Ibom 2022 budget: Group criticises gov over silence on funding

Ini Billie, Uyo

Policy Alert, a Civil Society Organisation promoting fiscal and ecological justice in the Niger Delta, has criticised the 2022 budget speech of the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel for being silent on funding.

According to the group, the budget does not provide details on how the state intends to fund the 2022 budget proposal.

Emmanuel had on Monday presented the 2022 Appropriation Bill of N582.115 billion made up of recurrent expenditure of N260.151 billion and capital expenditure of N321.964 billion to the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly for the 2022 fiscal year.

But in a statement in Uyo, the Executive Director of Policy Alert, Mr Tijah Bolton-Akpan, said there were conspicuous gaps in the budget speech, especially in recurrent revenue.

“A budget proposal is not complete until it presents a clear picture of the spending plan and expected revenue. However, capital receipts are dependent on several factors that are beyond the control of the state government, and sometimes even the central government.

“The budget speech does not provide the recurrent revenue estimates, which could have completed the picture of how the government plans to fund the budget.

“We cannot afford to gloss over the revenue side of the state budget, especially at this time when fiscal space is threatened by global and domestic headwinds related to oil price volatility, the energy transition and national illiquidity.

“For instance, it is unclear what the state is expecting from statutory allocation in 2022. What is the State planning to generate internally generated revenue? What does the State project to get from 13 per cent derivation? These important funding questions are unanswered in the budget speech and the state government has to come clear on these basics right from the outset,” he stated.

Bolton-Akpan faulted what he called the ‘ambitious’ capital receipt estimates for “refunds from federal government/federation account”, saying much of this amount is premised on recent court awards which may or may not materialise in the fiscal year.

He added that betting 137.9 billion or 23.6 per cent of the total budget sum on a shaky revenue source is risky for the fiscal health of the state.

He however commended the state government on the capital-recurrent ratio, noting that with capital expenditure taking 55.3 per cent of the total budget outlay, there was hope the state government will focus more on people-oriented developmental projects than on running the government.