Finance expert asks Tinubu to break down budget inflows and outflows
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Tilewa Adebajo, a finance expert and CFG Advisory Chief Executive Officer, has asked President Bola Tinubu to explain where he will get money to fund the N2.176 supplementary budget he signed into law last week.
I have more questions on how the government plans to get funds despite speculation it will be from money saved from subsidies or the recent World Bank loan, he disclosed on Arise News.
Are the budgetary allocations justified? Adebajo was asked.
His response: “I don’t know. In the sense that there are already budgets this year for these departments so why do all these people need a budget by this time, two months to the end of the year?
“We have 130 million Nigerians in multidimensional poverty so a lot of these things become insensitive. And you know, you really need to manage the optics otherwise you’ll see the outcry we’ve been seeing.
“Yes the FAAC allocations have increased significantly without a doubt. We want to find out where that is coming from. So when you are talking about revenues, is it from taxes or can it be quantified?
“How we’ve been surviving in Nigeria now has been through FIRS, and [CBN] Ways and Means. NNPC has not been remitting to the Federation Account. So let us know what NNPC is starting to remit to the account between May and now.”
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CBN Ways and Means borrowing
Adebajo disclosed his main focus is on the 2024 national budget rather than the 2023 supplementary budget.
He also spoke on the government’s bid to convince the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to increase the current Ways and Means borrowing cap and reduce its Governor’s power in control and intervention in the economy, per Arise News.
“There’s nothing wrong with the CBN Act as it is. If the CBN Governor contravenes the Act, that’s a different issue. The CBN has a board that was sitting when the Central Bank was breaching the CBN Act.”
Adebajo stressed Section 38 of the CBN Act should be reevaluated and that Abuja needs to find a way to resolve the current N30 trillion Ways and Means cap as turning to private sector borrowing would stunt economic growth
On the mission to grow a $1 trillion economy, he explained that though Nigeria has the potential to raise its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the issue lies in the ineffectiveness of the managers of the economy.
