THE director of the Lagos Business School, Prof. Pat Utomi Wednesday in Awka blamed the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari for the economic recession in the country, arguing that those attributing the recession to fall in oil price were bad managers. President Muhammadu Buhari during the Federal Executive Council Meeting held at the Council Chamber State House Abuja had claimed.
Utomi, who spoke as guest lecturer at the maiden edition of Dr Emmanuel Egbogah budget round-table organized by the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Business School, Awka, said the Buhari government should have foreseen the situation, had it been that it was futuristic in budget planning and management of resources. His lecture titled: “Budget Processes In Nigeria: Challenges And Implications For National Development”, blamed the situation in the country on lack foresight, adding that a good national budget ought to have preempted the situation.
According to him, a good budget should contain what the people want and envisage the implications of future economic changes and challenges. He said: “Our major problem is that we lack planning and if there is no discipline, then budgeting is a waste of time. Budgeting process must be matched with where the people are going, but beyond revenue and expenditure, budget has to do with discipline and execution. Those blaming fall in oil price are just bad mangers because fall in oil price is not the cause of this recession.
” Utomi also lamented the prevailing backwardness in the country, stating that the sad situation was basically thrown up by the events of 1966, when, he said, a gang of military boys hijacked the leadership of the country. According to him, the same characters had remained in power since then in different guises.
In his keynote address, the deputy chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Mr. Chris Azubuogu listed factors that hindered the actualization of national budget to include poor funding of budget, lopsided budgeting, deficit budget and high domestic debt profile which he said was in trillions of naira.
In his address, the director of the school, Prof Austin Nonyelu said the conference was necessitated by the challenges and problems that bedeviled Nigeria’s budget process at all levels of governance, which he noted, had impacted negatively on service delivery. He said Nigeria budget process at all levels of governance was bedeviled by myriad challenges and problems which impact negatively on service delivery.
“The common narrative in Nigeria is that federal and state budgets are rarely implemented with consequential negative effects. “The newly established Unizik Business School in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka is committed to unraveling these issues, and hopes to provide the roadmap that will direct, and reorient the entire mechanisms and processes involved in budget development and implementation,” he said.
Vanguard
