Monday Letter
The  response that trailed the signing of the 2018 budget into law on Wednesday 20th June 2018, by President Muhammadu Buhari after a protracted wait by Nigerians has again demonstrated that efficiency of the government sector does not only affect the performance of the public sector but that of the whole country.
Interestingly, aside the concern expressed by Mr. President that  some strategic projects  were slashed by the National Assembly, the breakdown of the budget  passed  revealed  that  the present administration is committed to developing the nation’s infrastructure as the details explained that the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing got a jumbo sum amounting to N682.309bn, followed by transportation which received N251.420bn; N157.715bn for defence; N149.198bn for agriculture and rural development; N147.200bn for water resources, among others.
The above development to Nigerians with critical interest appears heartening because for the nation to function well, good public services are needed: roads and good transport networks so that goods can be transported, public infrastructure so that economic activity can flourish, and some types of basic regulation to prevent fraud and malfeasance.
No doubt, the effort of the federal government must be commended but along the way lies an inherent challenge as a further analysis of the budget revealed that a paltry sum of N102.907bn, like the previous years, the ‘customary’ seven per cent of the sum total of the annual budget was allocated to the education sector.
A decision that is marred by non-compliance to the international budgetary benchmark on educational funding and fears of possible inability to meet the nation’s educational sector’s primary mandate; and as an effect, heightened the apprehension among Nigerians that the already not too impressive educational sector may further deteriorate.
From the analyses of their action, the vast majority of Nigerians are of the view that however noble the initiatives that informed the government’s decision to place other sectors ahead of education may appear, it remains antithetical to national development and renders Mr. President’s comment that ‘the 2018 Budget is targeted at consolidating the achievements of previous budgets and deliver on Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020’’ as a body without a soul.
This visible gap in my view may have stemmed from a confluence of silent reasons with the most radical being the government’s inability to remember that globally, there is no leftist or rightist principle for lifting a nation from poverty to prosperity but can only be achieved by the government’s disciplined attention to education/ human capital development sector.
Jerome-Mario Utomi, Jeromeutomi@yahoo.com
