A critical analysis of Nigeria’s 2013 budget proposal throws up the question of whether Nigeria is a rich country. The general perception is that Nigeria is a rich country. Those who hold this view are quick to point to the fact that Nigeria earns billions from crude oil revenues on a yearly basis.

The argument of a rich Nigeria, however, seems to fall apart when the country’s 2013 budget is compared with those of peer countries, as BusinessDay Research did in its report “Budget 2013 – Facts behind the figures”. The report, an in-depth analysis of Nigeria’s 2013 budget, examines how the Federal Government planned budget spend in 2013 compares with other oil producing countries that are members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as well as some other non-oil producing countries. The analysis also identifies the ministries with the highest personnel cost and the budget distribution between government and citizens.

The Federal Government’s total N4.99 trillion spend in 2013 is equivalent of just $32 billion. If this is taken as a percentage of the level of economic activities in the country, it stands at just 11.92 percent. The 2013 budget plan also comes to just an average of N30,063 per Nigerian a year or N82 per day for every Nigerian. Thus, if the Federal Government N4.99 trillion budget were to be distributed as cash to all Nigerians, the share an average man or woman gets might just be enough to buy a loaf of “Agege” bread. If the man or woman would like some “akara” to top it, then he or she would have to ask his or her state government for the money. The Federal Government budget, if shared among every Nigerian, would not be enough to buy even a bottle of cold soft drink as top-up on a loaf of “Agege” bread.

For a Saudi Arabian, the case will be different. The Saudi Arabian government plans to spend a total of $219 billion in 2013. This is about 6.8 times higher than Nigeria’s proposed spend of $32 billion within the same period. With a GDP of $657 billion in 2012, Saudi Arabia’s budget is 33 percent of its economy. For every Saudi citizen, expenditure per head is $7,552 or N1.18 million based on a population of 29 million that live in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi budget thus comes to an average spend of N3,248 per day, enough money for the Saudi citizen to have breakfast and lunch at a fast-food restaurant in Nigeria every day.

Venezuela is another oil producing country whose government plans to spend $92.2 billion in 2013, according to a report available on venezuelanalysis.com. The budget is based on a crude oil benchmark of $55 per barrel with 21 percent of the Venezuelan budget expected to be financed with oil income, lower than 55.4 percent accounted for by oil income in 2012. With a GDP of approximately $338 billion, Venezuela’s budget is about 27 percent of its economic size. The Venezuelan government planned expenditure per head comes to $3,067 (N481,519) based on a population of 30 million, which is about N1,319 per day, enough money for a Venezuelan to buy about five big-sized sliced loaves of bread in Nigeria.

Even the South African government, a country Nigeria competes actively with for inflow of foreign direct investment into Africa, spends more money than the Nigerian Federal Government. The South African 2012/2013 budget is $113 billion, information obtained from the website of the South African treasury shows, representing 29 percent of its 2012 $390 billion GDP. The government’s planned expenditure is 3.5 times higher than Nigeria’s proposed budget for 2013. South Africa’s total 2012/2013 expenditure plan comes to $2,173 or N341, 161 per head based on a population of 51 million and comes to about N935 per day, which is 11 times higher than the N82 for every Nigerian.

The Federal Government’s expenditure is actually made worse by the fact that even with the little money being spent, an average of N70 of every N100 of planned expenditure goes into the running of government business either as payment for personnel cost or overheads. This means that even of the N82 budget a day for every Nigerian, what is actually spent by Nigerians not working for the government is about N24 per day, not enough to buy “Agege” bread.

Since the people who work in government or who are in government represent less than 1 percent of the Nigerian population, they actually get an unfair share of the total national spend. A glimpse of this unfair sharing of Nigeria’s budget is seen in the budget per head for a member of the National Assembly compared to the average Nigerian. The budget per head for each member of the National Assembly in the 2013 budget plan is N320 million or N876,712 per day or N36,539 per hour and N608 per second. A member of the National Assembly thus gets more money per second from the budget than an ordinary Nigerian gets in a week. The obvious outcome of this unfair distribution of the nation’s planned expenditure is seen in the way the National Assembly can afford to have 10 mansions while 70 percent of Nigerians struggle for a loaf of bread to assuage the hunger in their empty stomachs.
[size=14pt]
So, is Nigeria really a rich country? The politicians are rich. The politically-connected are rich, but the people are really poor.[/size]
http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/index.php/analysis/commentary/51674-is-nigeria-a-rich-country

@ Topic

Is the Pope Catholic?

@op is jonathan a Nigerian..###mtchwww##

Nice piece, but i think that an average Nigerian knows that 90% of it's wealth is in the hands on 3% of it's political elite.


Nigeria political elite are the number one enemy of nigeria.
That they free today is because nigeria is a rogue state, as soon as nigeria becomes a country where the rule of law applies, if ever it would, they will all be executed.

Hmmmmmmm Speechless

Nigeria should be and could be the richest country in africa. But poor leaders prevent this from happning.

Yes if only the looters are taking care of. 9ja is very rich

My eyes don see my yash.
Holy moses, see figures....

Our budget is too low, why? money looters.

When will Naija change for gud.

When you inflate the price of something and award it to your friends or relatives to keep your own percentage for you later, to me its looting to our politicians its called pure business.