Minister Of Information Lai Muhammed Says 2016 Budget Does Not Exceed N6.08 Trillion
The Minister of
Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said on Saturday said that
the 2016 budget was not padded because the total figure voted for all
ministries had not exceeded N6.08 trillion.
Briefing
newsmen in Lagos, he said: “The total for every ministry has remained
exactly the same as what was submitted to the National Assembly.
“A lot has been said about the budget.
“The
total of all ministries put together has not exceeded N6.08 trillion
that was submitted. It is factually incorrect to say that the budget was
padded.
“This is the first time in the history of this country that a government will embark what is called zero based budget.
“Before
now, the budget system was what was called an enveloped system. In an
envelope system, there is no justification as to why we need N30 billion
for a structure.’’
“This
year, we decide that every ministry must have a zero based budget. In
other word, you must justify and explain why you need N100 billion.
“This is very good system, the soft ware for it was also very different. The personnel were not used to it,’’
“Now,
in the process we got to National Assembly. What the ministers do is to
have a broad overview of the budget. The template used by the Budget
Office is uniform for all ministers.’’
The
minister also said exports, balance of trade, Gross Domestic Product
were responsible for currency appreciation and depreciation.
“Before
now we use to sell crude for about 100 dollar per barrel which means if
we produce two million barrels per day, you have something in the
region of 200 million dollar less the expenditure of production and
others.
“But today for the same two million barrels, you have less than 60 million dollar less the cost of production.’’
“Clearly
if your major source of exchange is crude and it has gone down from 100
per cent, you have lost 70 per cent of your source.
“Secondly,
if your balance of trade is surplus, in other word, if you export more
than you import, then you are going to have less money to settle other
countries.
“What
the government is doing is to ensure that the little resources we have
are properly managed. Part of decision we took was Treasury Single
Account.
“Others
include blocking all sort form of corruption and diversify economy so
that we can get foreign exchange for other sources,’’ he said.
-Vanguard
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