The organised private sector (OPS) has expressed its worries and disappointment with President Goodluck Jonathan for signing the 2011 Appropreriation Bill into law unmindful of the pleas to reduce the huge proportion of the budget allocated to the National Assembly.
The OPS comprising the Nigerian Association of Chamber of Commerce Industry Mine and Agriculture (Naccima), the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (Man) and the Nigerian Employers Consultative Assembly (Neca) said they are concerned that in spite of public outcry and repeated reminders, the issue of national budget has yet to be satisfactorily resolved.
According to the OPS, this issue has once again resurfaced with the 2011 Federal Budget, which was recently passed by our law makers, a development which, it said, has the potential to truncate the macroeconomic objectives of 2011 fiscal year.
“You will recall that there was a public reaction to the 2010 federal budget as regards the huge allocation to the National Assembly,” OPS said in a statement. “As a result, the president did promise to address certain grey areas in the 2011 proposal.
We wish to express our disappointment that while we understand that Mr. President did actually review the estimates downward for the National Assembly in certain grey areas, the National Assembly appear to have gone ahead to increase its allocation by over 100 per cent in the 2011 Federal budget.
“We believe the public is generally concerned about this apparent increase in the National Assembly allocation from N111.24billion to N232.74 billion representing 109.2 per cent increase. We therefore wish to counsel that Mr. President should insist and return the NASS approved 2011 Budget to the National Assembly for a review.
We are here to repeat once again that the present high cost of governance has been responsible for the lopsided pattern of expenditure, with recurrent expenditure taking about 70 per cent of total budget.”
OPS also faulted the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) pronouncement that effective from June1 , 2012, individuals that make cash withdrawal or deposit above N150, 000 would pay a fine of N100 per extra N1,000, while corporate organisations that make cash withdrawal or deposit above N1 million would pay a fine of N200 per extra N1,000.
These limits for free cash withdrawal and deposits were part of a new policy aimed at reducing the high usage of cash in the economy. In addition, the policy, which would be enforced in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Aba in the first instance, also banned encashment of third party cheques above N150, 000 across the counter.
While considering the CBN ideas as laudable as it will help in reducing the risks and cost of money transfer and management by making Nigeria a cashless society, the OPS is worried that the policy may not work in isolation but may require other macro-economic policy support including infrastructure to be put in place.
For instance, according to OPS, the informal sector accounts for about 60 per cent of Nigeria’s economic activities and cash are heavily used in this sector.
“With our large illiterate society and poor ICT access by majority of the citizens, the CBN would need to introduce other policies to complement this one, to make paper transactions cheaper and attractive with some education of the masses. Bank charges on non cash transactions could be reviewed downwards for customers, as incentive.”
The OPS comprising the Nigerian Association of Chamber of Commerce Industry Mine and Agriculture (Naccima), the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (Man) and the Nigerian Employers Consultative Assembly (Neca) said they are concerned that in spite of public outcry and repeated reminders, the issue of national budget has yet to be satisfactorily resolved.
According to the OPS, this issue has once again resurfaced with the 2011 Federal Budget, which was recently passed by our law makers, a development which, it said, has the potential to truncate the macroeconomic objectives of 2011 fiscal year.
“You will recall that there was a public reaction to the 2010 federal budget as regards the huge allocation to the National Assembly,” OPS said in a statement. “As a result, the president did promise to address certain grey areas in the 2011 proposal.
We wish to express our disappointment that while we understand that Mr. President did actually review the estimates downward for the National Assembly in certain grey areas, the National Assembly appear to have gone ahead to increase its allocation by over 100 per cent in the 2011 Federal budget.
“We believe the public is generally concerned about this apparent increase in the National Assembly allocation from N111.24billion to N232.74 billion representing 109.2 per cent increase. We therefore wish to counsel that Mr. President should insist and return the NASS approved 2011 Budget to the National Assembly for a review.
We are here to repeat once again that the present high cost of governance has been responsible for the lopsided pattern of expenditure, with recurrent expenditure taking about 70 per cent of total budget.”
OPS also faulted the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) pronouncement that effective from June1 , 2012, individuals that make cash withdrawal or deposit above N150, 000 would pay a fine of N100 per extra N1,000, while corporate organisations that make cash withdrawal or deposit above N1 million would pay a fine of N200 per extra N1,000.
These limits for free cash withdrawal and deposits were part of a new policy aimed at reducing the high usage of cash in the economy. In addition, the policy, which would be enforced in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Aba in the first instance, also banned encashment of third party cheques above N150, 000 across the counter.
While considering the CBN ideas as laudable as it will help in reducing the risks and cost of money transfer and management by making Nigeria a cashless society, the OPS is worried that the policy may not work in isolation but may require other macro-economic policy support including infrastructure to be put in place.
For instance, according to OPS, the informal sector accounts for about 60 per cent of Nigeria’s economic activities and cash are heavily used in this sector.
“With our large illiterate society and poor ICT access by majority of the citizens, the CBN would need to introduce other policies to complement this one, to make paper transactions cheaper and attractive with some education of the masses. Bank charges on non cash transactions could be reviewed downwards for customers, as incentive.”
