http://allafrica.com/stories/201307080276.html

Nigeria is living up to its reputation as a country where anything can happen. The 2013 budget that was ready by December 2012 is still being debated in July 2013. And the nation has been told to expect next year's budget by September 2013.

The current row between finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the National Assembly has not been caused by the non-implementation of the budget; nobody expects it to be implemented. The lawmakers are obviously angry that the N100billion appropriated for "constituency projects" has not been released. Okonjo-Iweala and the presidency demand that N72billion cut from the original version of the budget be restored even as they seek an amendment budget. The legislators have set the "bulky" document aside; they may not debate it until October. But the minister warns that the federal government may not be able to pay workers' salaries by September if the amendment budget is not passed.

Likely, Nigerians have become a conquered people. Were it not so, they would have since ended the constant insult on their intelligence. Every year, a lot of noise is made about a "budget" that nobody plans to implement at all. And nobody performs any oversight function so long as the loot reaches him in the form of unearned salary and allowances, and civil servants get their salaries paid. Yet, non-implementation of a budget - a state law - is a criminal offence. By now, more than 50 per cent of the budget ought to have been implemented, but our leaders are still quarrelling over the first-quarter releases. By the time the National Assembly resumes in September (after many have enjoyed their summer vacations in other countries where things are done properly), the quarrels would continue until the debate on the "election-year budget" begins.

The finance minister and the legislators would do well to spare us more trouble. There is no need of denying that she warned of the nation shutting down if the amendment budget was not passed; the nation has shut down already. Apart from the fewer than one million Nigerians earning salaries, nobody else enjoys the economic growth and progress that our experts often talk about. Traders are not selling because the consumers are not buying. A majority of those in the working-age group are jobless. Poverty rules the roost in most Nigerian homes.

So, there is no budget "impasse" now because there is no budget in the first place. And if the economy has collapsed - as many believe it has - nobody blames it on an amendment budget. It is the entire ruling class, including the executive and the legislature, that Nigerians should hold responsible. Oil thefts reported in the Niger Delta, the huge incomes earned by Nigerian officeholders, the insecurity of life and property in parts of the north, the lack of electricity and failure of the banks to support the real sector - all these are symptoms of leadership failure.

Good morn. Guess u are a web developer. lets discuss on working arrangment

Thanks

This is well written. We are victims, captives of a horrible system and the worst thing about it is that we do not have the platform to take any serious action to help ourselves, thanks to tribalism. I see no hope for this country.