The Federal Government is expected to publish on Friday the estimates in the 2022 Appropriation Bill laid before a joint session of the National Assembly by the President Muhammadu on Thursday.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, will disclose the details, which were missing in the N16.39tn budget presentation speech delivered by the President.
The Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze, made this known on Politics Today, a current affairs programme on Channels Television.
Akabueze, who confirmed that it is the biggest budget to ever be presented by the Federal Government, also said it was ‘way lower than it should be’.
He added, “The problem of Nigeria – I am talking about the government now – is not that we are spending too much money, it is that we are actually spending too little.”
Akabueze, while justifying the borrowing spree by the regime, noted that the average revenue-GDP in Africa was 20 per cent while Nigeria was between eight and nine per cent.
“Imagine if we did not now run a deficit budget and have to spend only the revenue, it means we spend maybe eight to nine per cent of our GDP. So, it should bridge that gap to get the ratio to a certain level – a minimum. That is why we need to borrow,” he said.
