…As Ahmed laments many headwinds troubling economy
The woes around funding reviewed 2020 budget have deepened for the Federal Government as only 35 per cent of the projected revenue from oil source as stipulated in the budget was realized in the first half of 2020 fiscal year.
Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, gave this hint at the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) capacity building for special advisors and technical assistants of the ministers, lamenting that expected money from oil fell by 65 per cent within the six month period.
Ahmed further hinted that the woes might continue in the Q3 of the year.
She said the impact of COVID-19 which necessitated the lockdown of the economy and social distancing measures caused lay-offs across most sectors, loss of income, and a drop in average household purchasing power.
According to her, “All of this takes place against the backdrop of the most recent National Bureau of Statistics 5-year household survey on poverty in Nigeria, which has found that the annual household income is less than N137,000 (equivalent to approx. N11,000 per month) for more than 40 per cent of Nigerian households.
“What began as a health crisis has quickly snowballed into a global economic crisis, and the effects have been swift and far-reaching, and Nigeria has not been insulated from this” she added.
She also lamented that the economy, largely dependent on oil revenue and foreign exchange earnings, was also contending with a high debt service ratio, a weak infrastructure base, and low human capital development indices.
She urged the special advisers to work to look beyond the short term and ensure policies and programmes developed under the current Administration are institutionalized and implemented.
Meanwhile, Dr Vladimir Kreck, the Resident Representative of KAS, said the seminar was the first of a series of seminars on capacity building for special advisors and technical assistants of the ministers.
He said the Foundation aimed to empower the special assistants to improve their performance, especially against the backdrop of the development of a new long-term development plan for the country.
