Dear @MBuhari, Between Jan & Apr 2022 alone, Nigeria spent >100% of its revenue on debt service, surpassing IMF's prediction for 2026. This is amidst growing subsidy payments and a 13-month high inflation of 17.7% that has pushed many into poverty. We are concerned. Thread!
In our Consultation Memo released in Feb 2022, we highlighted several reform issues bordering on Nigeria’s public financial management that affect the very core of governance, separation of powers, expenditure efficiency, and the livelihoods of millions of Nigerians;
...83 million of whom live in extreme poverty. 4 months later, some of those challenges still persist, with additional ones that-if not properly managed, would fiscal crisis for an already impoverished nation.
The first case in point is Nigeria's debt service spending which is only N93.6 billion naira less than the combined total personnel and capital expenditure from Jan - Apr 2022.
Also alarming are the expenditure targets for the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), which have only been 15% (of the total N5.10 billion naira) in that same period.
There is no gainsaying that the fortunes of Nigerians have worsened in the last 8 months after the 2022 budget was passed.
Nigeria is currently confronted with a myriad of challenges, including the ASUU strike which has crippled Nigeria’s tertiary education; a 13-month high inflation of 17.7% which has pushed millions of more Nigerians into poverty;
a drastic decline in Nigeria’s oil production which has displaced Nigeria as Africa’s biggest crude oil producer; a massive increase in the country’s petroleum subsidy liabilities which has crowded out investment in critical areas of the economy,
obliterated federal transfers to subnational units, and skyrocketed the country’s debt to over N41.6 trillion naira; a breakdown of law and order in cities across the federation, which has encumbered the inflow of FDI and increased the cost of doing business; among others.
Dear @mbuhari, Nigerians are waiting with bated breath for the national budget to begin to bring about the relief and positive change it was claimed to have harbored.
With 2022 being a pre-election year, alongside the growing fiscal threat posed by subsidy payments and the debt service-to-revenue ratio; these critical issues will negatively impact Nigeria’s budget credibility,
...cripple service delivery in critical social sectors of the economy and impede needed investments in productive sectors, thereby stunting economic growth.
We call on Nigerians, CSOs, media, the private sector, the international community, and reformers to join the call for the Federal Government to take critical actions going forward. Read full press statement above.