MINISTRY OF BUDGET AND NATIONAL PLANNING: A SCORE CARD FOR 2017

INTRODUCTION

The key mandates of the Ministry include rendering policy advice to the   Federal Government on all aspects of national development, development of national plans (long, medium and short term) and annual budgets,   monitoring and evaluation of Government policies and programmes, surveillance on the economy, coordination of state-FG economic relations and management of development cooperation. The major activities and achievements of the Ministry in year 2017 are presented below:

 

1. PLANNING

In 2017 a medium-term plan, the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan 2017 – 2020 (ERGP) was developed and launched. The ERGP builds on   the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP); a short term plan which the Ministry developed in 2016 to drive the 2016 Budget. It was aimed at addressing the country’s economic challenges and laying the foundation   for economic diversification,inclusive , sustainable growth and maximize welfare for all Nigerians.

The plan has three key objectives: restoring growth from a negative trend in 2016 to 7% by 2020; Investing in our people by increasing social inclusion, creating jobs and improving the human capital base of the   economy; and building a globally competitive   economy. There are five key execution priorities in the plan:

1. stabilizing the macroeconomic environment;
2. achieving agricultural transformation and food security;

• ensuring energy sufficiency (power and petroleum products);

1. Improving transportation infrastructure:
2. driving Industrialization, focusing on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises.

The plan places emphasis on effective implementation and delivery.

 

Thus under the year in review, the Ministry initiated the process of organizing Sector Focused Labs  fashioned after the Malaysian Model, as part of its effort to drive critical sectors of the economy towards realizing the strategic objectives of the ERGP. Following the Federal Executive   Council’s approval in November 2017, the Ministry has concluded arrangement to fully organize the labs by early in  2018. Those   labs   would bring together relevant stakeholders in the public and private sectors into weeks of intensive working sessions to brainstorm on practical steps to

overcoming any identified challenges in the implementation of the   country’s economic plan. The central objective is to attract private sector  funding of key projects across the country through a multi-stakeholder approach and serve as aneffective tool for ensuring robust engagement between the public and private sectorsto resolve challenges within a specified sector. The initial labs will be in agriculture and transportation, power and gas, and in manufacturing and  processing. Thereafter, similar  labswill  be   conducted  in  other areas such as entertainment and tourism, health and education amongst others. The sessions will be directed by relevant Ministers and senior government officials, with the participation of captains of industry and potential investors, both Nigerian,

aswell as major international companies. Young and aspiring entrepreneurs will  also  be part  of the exercise.  Already  the  Federal   Government has   set up   an  ERGP implementation team located in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning which will be facilitators of the labs. These staff will be supported by some consultants from Malaysia who will facilitate the first three pilot labs after which their services will no longer be required.

 

 

1. BUDGETING

The preparation of the 2018 budget proposals is particularly worthy of mention. As was the case in 2016 and 2017, the 2018 budget was prepared using the Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB) approach. The approach ensures that every item in the budget is justified and linked with government reforms and initiatives as reflected in the ERGP.  With the decision to return to the predictable January to December budget cycle, beginning 2018, the Ministry had to work flat out to compress a 12 month activity into just three months, to meet the October 2017 timeline for submission of the proposal, first to the Federal Executive Council and then to the National Assembly. Since the 2017 budget was not running its full cycle of 12 calendar months, it entailed, among others, the rolling over of some of the capital projects under that budget to the 2018 Budget of  Consolidation. In spite of the shortness of time, the 2018 budget preparation exercise was completed in record time, even though it was laid at the National Assembly by President MuhammaduBuhari in the first week of November, 2017.

 

Since laying of the proposals, concerns have been raised on some aspects, including that the budget is not implementable becauseof  some of the parameters on which the budget are based. For instance oil  production output is said  to be too ambitious. Others include issues around concession of some government assets and agencies without capital provisions and harmonization of the budget cycle.Harmonising the   budget   year/cycle to a predictable January to December implementation period is not quite sound and logical given the fundamental reasoning behind it. It is important for transparency and accountability that both recurrent and capital aspects of the budget are reported within the same time frame as againswhat is currently obtainable. It will also facilitate planning by other key players in the economy, especially the private sector  that   is   expected to make the bulk of the investments necessary to achieve the objectives of the ERGP. Thus, resetting to an agreed timeline will mean that ongoing projects not fully funded in the 2017 budget (estimated at 40-50% at the point of issuance of 2018 call circular) be rolled over into the 2018 budget. The 2018 Budget of Consolidation is carefully prepared to capture all of these. It is not ficticious, but implementable, realistic andprudently linked with the ERGP.

 

On the issue of concessioning of some Federal Government Assets, Government is not out-rightly selling some of these iconic facilities. It is the desire of government that the designated assets are well maintained and put to good use which is not the case at the moment. For instance the National Theatre and TafawaBalewa Square (TBS) both in Lagos, built in the 70’s have not been well maintained over the years. Government has always canvassed inflow of private capital in infrastructure projects through concessioning  for  efficiency.  It   is   more   important   that   these facilities remain available for use of Nigerians in good working condition than for government to continue to retain ownership.

 

In respect to oil production levels, the Nigeria National Petroleum   Corporation (NNPC) projected production capacity of over 2.5mbpd for the 2018 budget year. This Ministry however took a cautious option by revising it down to 2.3 mbpd and to align with the production numbers in the ERGP.  This includes condensates of 450,000bpd, which does not count for   OPEC  quota. With the improved post-cash call funding arrangement for the Joint Ventures (JVs) and continued engagements with the Niger Delta communities, government is optimistic that these numbers are realizable.

 

The seemingly poor implementation of the 2017 budget is not as a result of lack of capacity but because of unforeseen and extraneous factors. First and foremost the 2017 budget was affected by the late passage of the Appropriation Bill. Nevertheless, this affected only the Capital aspects of the budget, as the statutory transfers, recurrent expenditures, and debt service have been fully met in line with the budget. Cumulatively, ₦1.2trillion has been released for capital expenditure under the 2017 budget as at December 2017, after effectively only six (6) months of implementation. This amount is almost equivalent to the total release for the 2016 budget which ran for 12 calendar months. The expenditure under the 2017 budget therefore remains on track given its late approval on June 12, 2017 and the associated delays as a result of mandatory procurement processes.

It is necessary to state here that all agencies of Government have   personnel, overheads and capital budgets. However, some agencies receive only salaries from the FGN budget as their overheads and capital expenditure are being covered through their Internally Generated Revenues.

 

1. NATIONAL ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT COORDINATION

The Ministry serves as the Secretariat for the National Economic Council(NEC) which is strategic for strengthening economic cooperation and management between the Federal and the sub-national levels of government. NEC is chaired by the country’s Vice-President  with   the   36   State   Governors,  FCT   Minister,  Minister   of  Budget   and National Planning as well as Minister of Finance as members. In 2017, the Ministry ensured that NEC was held every month without fail.

 

The   Ministry   also   held   the   annual Joint   Planning   Board/National   Council   on Development Planning (JPB/NDP)  meeting, in Niger State in a continued effort to forge stronger links with the states in terms of development planning. The theme of this year’s meeting was “The   Economic Recovery and Growth Plan: Roadmap to Inclusive Growth, Resilient and Competitive Economy”, to further seek ways of effective collaboration in implementation strategy for the ERGP, especially at the sub-national level.

 

Also during the period under review, the Ministry co-hosted the 23^rd edition of the Nigerian Economic Summit (NES#21 &22). It had earlier successfully co-hosted the 21^st and 22^ndeditions held in November 2015 and October 2016 respectively. While the themes for the 21^st and 22^nd editions were “Tough Choices: Achieving Competitiveness, Inclusive Growth and Sustainability” and “Made-in-Nigeria” respectively. The 2017 (23rd) edition had as its theme “Opportunities, Productivity and Employment: Actualizing the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan”. The 2017 edition, as usual, was jointly organized by the Ministry (representing the public sector) and the Nigerian Economic Summit Group(representing the private sector), in a Public Private Partnership arrangement. The choice of the themes is usually predicated on critical economic issues of the time.

 

 

1. MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF CAPITAL PROGRAMMES AND PROJECTS

Also during the year, the Ministry fine-tuned the National Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Framework employed in monitoring and tracking the implementation of FGN capital projects/investments. The aim was to   ensure transparency and value formoney in the implementation of programmes and projects. The process involvedphysical inspection and other verification exercises, and impact assessment.

 

The Ministry also conducted Surveillance on the Performance of the Nigerian Economy as well as the Production of Periodic Performance   Reports to track developments in the economy, analyse and advise  government accordingly. It had earlier produced Annual Economic Performance Reports for 2015 and produced the 2016 edition this year. In addition, Reports on the State of the Economy have been consistently presented by the Hon. Minister to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on

quarterly basis and as when demanded.

 

During the year also, efforts were intensified towards the operationalisation of the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP).  The key elements for the implementation of the NIIMP are being finalized. The Ministry is currently working closely with the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Central Bank  of Nigeria (CBN), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Sovereign Wealth Investment Authority (SWIA) and Pension Commission (PENCOM) to facilitate the establishment of Public Private Partnership Project (PPP) Fund to provide a dedicated pool of funds for packaging of bankable projects by MDAs. A working draft framework is being finalized. The Ministry is also collaborating with private sector partners to enhance the capacity of MDAs for delivery of PPP bankable infrastructure projects.

 

The Ministry is also working vigorously on the deployment of Nigeria Asset Decision Support System (NADSS)for Planning and Evidence Based   Decision Making. It is working closely with the Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (NIAF) experts to operationalise the NADSS, a tool that   will facilitate planning and evidence based decision making. The NADSS was excised from the Presidency and domiciled at the NBS and key staff have been trained to man it.

 

In the area of economic development research, statistical coordination   and capacity building, the three Parastatals under the Ministry, namely: Nigeria Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER); National  Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and Centre for Management Development (CMD) have been restructured to put them in better stead to provide research, statistical support and capacity development under their respective mandates. The Ministry has conducted several capacity building for DPRS of MDAs in various aspects of planning and budgeting.

 

 

1. MANAGEMENT OF DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION

In the area of Donor Coordination and Management of Official Development (ODA) Assistance in Nigeria,several Cooperation Agreements  were   concluded and signed with  major  bilateral/multi-lateral development partners, including the European Union, USAID, United Nations System and Governments of China, Canada, Germany, Japan, South Korea and United Kingdom, etc. Implementation of the Agreements is being monitored to ensure alignment with national development priorities and aspirations. Major activities under donor coordination and management are as follows:

• Federal Government of Nigeria signed the Financing Agreements with the

European Union for the implementation of the EU Support to the following

programmes:

• EU Support to Strengthening Resilience in Northern Nigeria in the sum of forty two Million Euros (€42,000,000) from December 2016 – December 2019;
• EU Support to Technical Cooperation in Nigeria in the sum of four Million, five hundred thousand Euros (€4, 500, 000) from 2015 – August 2020.
• USAID Supported Programmes in 2016 as part of the Development Objectives Assistance Agreements (DOAG) obligated funding of the September 25, 2015 agreement; to broadened inclusive growth in the sum of $110,323,566.33; a healthier, more educated population ($565,112,695.48); and strengthened good governance ($719,086,251.81).

 

The Ministry had also approved the under-listed programmes for UK-DFID for implementation:

1. Partnership to Engage Reform and Learn (PERL) programme in the sum of€37,500,000);
2. North-East Nigeria Humanitarian Response Programme€46,000,000; and

• Anti-corruption in Nigeria (ACORN) in the sum of €20,000,000.

 

Also, 44 new International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGO)wereregistered for operation in Nigeria. Among the 44 newly registered INGOs include: The European Centre for Electoral Support; Malteser   International; Westminister Foundation for Democracy; MMAP; Wanted Children Foundation; Alliance for International Medical Action; Medicine Du Monde; International NGOs Safety Organization; Danish Refugee Council;   Ine Campaign Africa; Norwegian Refugee Council; Plan International, etc.   Some had their Memorandum of Understanding renewedincluding   KonradAdeneurStifung; Open Society for Africa; Advocacy Sans Frontier, etc.

 

 

 

Other accomplishments under the various development partners are:

 

United Nations (UN)

• The development of the United Nations Sustainable Development Partnership Framework (UNSDPF) 2018 – 2022 document was coordinated and signed by the Honourable Minister and the Heads of the UN-System in July, 2017;
• ERGP implementation Unit supported by the UNDP has taken off;
• The Humanitarian Response Plan/ Humanitarian Needs Overview HRP/HNO with Donors / Development Partners was   coordinated   by   the Ministry under the supervision of the Honourable Minister of State;
• UNDP support to development of ODA coordination structure/ framework for Nigeria in the Ministry;
• Strengthening of South-South Cooperation within   Partners   in   Population and Development Framework across stakeholders MDAs.

 

European Union

• EU-Support to Strengthening Resilience in Northern Nigeria in the sum of forty-two million Euros (€42,000,000) from December 2016 – December 2019;
• EU Support to Energy Sector in Nigeria in the sum of sixty-four million, five hundred thousand Euros (€64.5m)
• EU Support to Competitiveness and Trade Facilitation in Nigeria from 2018 – 2020 in the sum of ten million Euro (€10m)
• EU Support to   Early   Recovery   and   Rehabilitation   of   Livelihoods   and   Basic Services in Borno State in the sum of one hundred and twenty million Euro(€120m)

 

Asia Pacific

• Received and Coordinated the 6,779 tons of Rice donation by the Chinese Government for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) arising from the Boko Haram Crisis;
• Facilitated the following   programmes   through   the   Korea   InternationalCooperation Agency ( KOICA):

– Capacity Building Programmes for 82 Nigerian Government Officials in2017;

– 11 Nigerian Government Officials are currently undergoing studies forMasters Degree in different areas of study in South Korea;

– Establishment of Model Schools for Primary and Junior Secondary Education in Abuja;

– Establishment of a World Class e-Government Training Centre for e-Government capacity building in Nigeria, at the  National InformationTechnology Development Agency (NITDA) headquarters; and

– Working with NITDA to execute the e-Government Master Plan for Nigeria.

The Ministry developed a Costed Strategic Plan of Action for Food and Nutrition consisting   of   actionable   activities/programmes   that   would   facilitate the implementation of the National Policy on Food and Nutrition   (NPFN) which was reviewed last year. Strategic on coordination of Food  and Nutrition is the recent inauguration of the National Council on Nutrition (NCN) which is the highest decision making body on nutrition comprising Ministers from relevant MDAs, CEOs of partners, CSOs/NGOs and the private sector with the Vice President as the Chair of the Council. This in effect would be technically driven by the National Committee on Food and Nutrition (NCFN) that is domiciled in the Ministry, to deliver on policy decisions. This sign-posts the leadership role of the Minitry in the coordination of Food and Nutrition implementation to achieve the desired reduction in malnutrition in Nigeria.

 

Coordination of the State Employment and Expenditure for Results (SEEFOR) Projects

The SEEFOR Project is a World Bank funded project in partnership with the European Union (EU), designed for four Niger Delta States of Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and Rivers. The project involves a concessionary interest free loan of US$200 million from the World Bank with a grant element of about US$78.4 million from  the European  Union. The  institutional arrangement  for  the coordination  and

supervision of the SEEFOR Project is the National Project Coordinating Unit (NPCU) domiciled at the Ministry of Budget and National Planning. Other key stakeholders of the SEEFOR Project at the Federal level are the Ministries of Finance and Niger Delta.

 

They play complementary roles with the NPCU as the overall coordinating body. Some notable achievements recorded include:

– Design of a robust M&E Systems for the SEEFOR Project;

– Development   of   a   Comprehensive   Communications   Strategy   for   theSEEFOR Project;

– Review of the SEEFOR Project Implementation Manual (PIM);

– Embarking   on   several   cross-states   studies   (baseline,   informal   sector,Needs assessment, mid-term review, impact assessment, etc.);

– Production of two editions of Documentary on the SEEFOR Project;

– Generation of 18,597 jobs through labour-intensive public works;

– Training of 3, 392 people in Technical and Vocational Agricultural skills;

– Training of 16,587 people in life planning and entrepreneurial skills;

– Implementing 182 Community/Local Government Development Projects

 

 

1. SOCIAL INTERVENTION PROGRAMME (SIP)

The following programmes under the Social Intervention Programme (SIP) and which are supervised by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning achieved various levels of success during the year. The level of   achievement indicated against each programme is as at November 2017.

 

• The National Social Safety Net Programme was instituted to enable communities to identify Poor and Vulnerable Households (PVHHs) and also

develop a credible NSR with a desegregated breakdown as to gender, disability, old age, etc. The programme also captures critical information on communities on access to utilities such as roads, connectivity, primary/ secondary schools, health care and financial institutions, etc, being   requisite information for empowering citizens living in those communities. More than  622,649  PVHHs have   been   identified   of  which  about   350,532   have   been   enumerated (information captured into the National Social Register – NSR) from 233 LGAs in 23 States.

 

• Under the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme which aims   to provide targeted transfers to poor and vulnerable households, with the ultimate aim of graduating them out of poverty, 116,422 (over 91%)  of  127,102  eligible households registered in the NSR from over 16 States and Borno IDP camps, are currently benefiting from this unconditional   cash transfer. 24,265 of these households are accessing skills training. As part of this initiative, beneficiaries are encouraged to form cooperatives and   provided with capacity building training to arm them with skills to support their family to stay out of poverty.

 

• Also, 5,226,039 pupils are fed daily  in  19  States by  54,361  cooks in  28,249 primary schools in the Home Grown School Feeding Programme  meant to provide one nutritious meal a day to 5.5 million school children (classes 1-3) in public primary schools. The programme also aims at increasing enrolment rates and mopping up the over 10.5 million children currently out of school.

 

• The Government Enterprise and Empowerment Program (GEEP)is meant to provide 1.66 million micro lending for traders, women cooperatives and market women, enterprising youth, farmers and agricultural workers. It is a no collateral, no interest facility. Applications are successful with the setting up of cooperatives (as a pressure group), generating BVN and opening of accountsand a flat administrative fee of 5% per loan. At the last count, 176,652 loans out of more than 250,000 eligible beneficiaries processed, have been successfully disbursed through   GEEP across the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

 

• The N-POWER Job Creation Programme was initiated to facilitate the gainful and sustainable employment of 500,000 graduates and self-employment of 100,000 unemployed young Nigerians. It is also meant to address needs in the teaching, agriculture and health sectors (for the graduates), and skill acquisition, creativity and ICT knowledge for the non-graduates. So far, 200,000 volunteers have been successfully deployed and are being paid in all 36 States. Volunteers have been engaged for N-Power Agro, N-Power Tax, N-Power Health and N-Power Teach, N-Build sub-Categories. Next round of 300,000 have been selected and will commence with 150,000 initially.

 

• Through the N-Power Innovation Hub Programme, the Federal Government intends to establish eight (8) Technology Innovation Hubs around the country, one (1) in each Geo-Political Zone. A Humanitarian Hub in Adamawa State(to encourage technology-related ideas on humanitarian   challenges);  the Climate Change Innovation Hub in Lagos State  (to address renewable energy challenges, especially) are already at      advanced   stages of implementation.  The   Adamawa Humanitarian Innovation Hub in the North Eastern region of the country meant to help build businesses and ideas that proffer solutions to the humanitarian issues in the insurgency affected region, was kicked off in September 2017 with the North East Makeathon

 

1. STATE OF THE ECONOMY

Results of the initiatives and reforms by the Ministry since inception in 2015 started manifesting in 2017. There are early positive signs that indicate   that theinitiatives are working. The NBS numbers indicate that in the 2nd quarter of 2017we achieved a positive GDP growth of 0.72%. It signaled the coming out of recession officially. It was further consolidated with a GDP growth of 1.40% in the 3^rdquarter.

 

Inflation rate has been declining continuously since the beginning of the year. It dropped from 18.72% in January 2017 to  15.91% by October  2017  (ERGP targeted 15.74% for 2017). Also, the country’s foreign reserves have increased from a low of just $23 billion in October 2016 to over $38 billion in December 2017. There has also been a considerable decline in our import bills from an average of about $5.5 billion a month in 2014 to $1.9 billion a month by half year 2017.

 

Similarly, balance of payments, stock market and purchasing managers’ indices for the third quarter of 2017 have also been positive, while stability has been restored in the foreign exchange market. An important sign that confidence in Nigeria, and in the management of the economy, is returning is reflected in the current trend in the volume of  capital importation. As at first quarter of 2017,  the  total value  of capital imported  into Nigeria was estimated to be  $908.27 million. As at second quarter it had increased to  $1,792.3 million – an increase of 95.02%. By third quarter it had risen much further to $4,145.09 million, representing a growth of 131.3% over the value in the second quarter of the year.

 

It would be recalled that, as part of strategies to improve the environment for doing business in Nigeria, government decided to introduce reforms   with the aim of improving our World Bank “global ease of doing business” rankings. Nigeria was ranked number 169. To address the situation, government set for itself an aggressive target of movingup by 20 places to 149 by the end of 2017.

 

To achieve this, reforms were introduced in business registration processes, visa and border formalities, land and title registration, investment processes, amongst others. Surprisingly, when the

World Bank released its latest rankings in October 2017, Nigeria had not just moved up 20 places, which was the target, but actually moved up 24 places from 169^th to 145^th. In addition, Nigeria was ranked as one of the top ten reforming countries in the World.