TWO weeks ago, on March 7, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer presented the UK government’s annual budget to parliament. The Financial Times and other British broadsheets pored over the budget and each devoted over 15 pages of a special supplement to analysing its intended and likely impacts on different categories of people, on families, on businesses, on the wider economy.
Let’s start with the first point. Take any Federal Government budget. There’s virtually nothing in it aimed directly at ordinary Nigerians. So, if, like their British counterparts, Nigerian newspapers were to analyse the budget for its positive impact on people’s lives, on businesses, on society, on the economy, they will have very little to say. A Federal Government budget covers capital expenditure, recurrent expenditure and debt servicing.
For instance, President Buhari dubbed his first budget in 2016 “Budget of change”, describing it as “a historic milestone for us as a nation.” It was nothing of the sort. He also gave his other budgets lofty names. But after Buhari’s eight years in power, one can call his eight budgets, collectively, “Budgets of Failures and Unfulfilled Promises.” In tagging his own N27.