Dipo Olowookere
By United Capital Research
On Wednesday, June 20, 2018, President Buhari signed the 2018 Budget into law, more than 200 days after it was presented in Nov-2017.
Although less concerned about the aggregate increment to N9.1tn, the President was not pleased by cuts amounting to N347.0bn in relation to 4,700 projects submitted for legislative consideration and the introduction of 6,403 projects amounting to N578.0bn by the National Assembly.
This development seemed to have generated a lot of arguments on social media.
By the President’s reckoning, the cuts made affected several projects, notably; the Mambilla Power Plant, 2nd Niger Bridge/Ancillary Roads, East-West Road, Bonny-Bodo Road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Itakpe-Ajaokuta Rail Project, The National Housing Programme, Pension Redemption Fund and Public Service Wage Adjustment, Export Expansion Grant, Special Economic Zones/Industrial Parks, Construction of the Terminal Building at Enugu Airport and Take-off Grant for the Maritime University in Delta State, all of which are considered strategic.
Although the president intends to seek to remedy some of the issues raised via a supplementary budget, we sense that the implementation of the 2018 budget may be strained, especially in relation to the aforementioned projects.
Compounded by the build-up to the 2019 election, budgetary reductions for these projects will slow their completion, dampening momentum in the broader economy whose recovery remained.
