Nigerian Government Spends N5.80tn in Six Months, But 61% of it was Borrowed from Countries, IMF, World Bank
- The Federal Government has always defended its borrowing noting the funds are meant for the development of critical infrastructure in the country
- However, data shows a larger portion of the money borrowed in the first half of 2021 was spent on debt repayments and personnel costs
- While funds allocated to capital projects(infrastructure) decreased than the levels projected in the 2021 budget
The federal government has revealed that in the first six months of the year, a total of N5.80 trillion was spent to attend to various provisions in the 2021 budget.
However, only N2.13 trillion, or 39% of the total, came from money earned by the federal government throughout the six months period.
This is according to a document published by the budget office and signed by Ben Akabueze, director-general budget office of the federation, and analysed by Legit.ng.
Source: Getty Images
The document showed that the expenditure recorded in the first half represents N42.24 billion or a 0.73% increase above the N5.76 trillion initially planned.
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It also noted that what was spent between January and June was also N888.67 billion or 18.07 percent higher than the actual expenditure of N4.92 trillion in the first half of 2020.
A breakdown of how the money was spent showed a total of N2.23 trillion went into non-debt recurrent expenditure in the first half of 2021.
Non-recurrent expenditure includes spending on personnel expenses, pensions, and gratuities, service-wide votes, and overheads.
The amount spent on recurrent expenditure in the first half of 2021, represented a decrease of N586.93 billion or 20.81% lower than the budget estimate of N2.82 trillion for the period.
It was however above the N2.16 trillion spent during the half-year of 2020 by N68.78 billion (3.18 percent).
The report also showed that statutory transfers amounted to N248.26 billion during the review period.
Debts service
Further breakdown of how the N5.80 trillion was spent between January and June, shows a major part went into debt service.
According to the report debt services gulped N2.02 trillion in the first half of the year.
The amount spent on debt service is higher by N357.9 billion when compared to the sum of N1.66 trillion initially planned in the budget.
Out of this sum, Interest on Ways and Means that is money collected from CBN amounted to N587.56 billion.
Also, N935.46 billion was used for domestic debt servicing, while N497.15 billion was spent on external debt servicing during the period under review.
Capital project
The federal government could only spend N1.30 trillion on capital projects in the first half of the year.
The amount spent represents a shortfall of N235.43 billion or 15.29 percent from the prorate budget estimate for the half-year.
What this means is despite the government stressing that it is borrowing for infrastructure most of the money is going into personnel and debt service maintenance.
Buhari borrows over N10 billion daily in the last six years
Meanwhile, each Nigerian is a debtor, owing over N160,000 due to the amount of loan borrowed by President Buhari since he came into power after the presidential election in 2015.
President Buhari has borrowed N21 trillion since July 2015, increasing Nigeria's debt to N33.1 trillion as of March 2021, according to data from the Debt Management Office (DMO).
A breakdown of the debt linked to President Buhari's administration showed that on a daily basis, the country secures over N10 billion within the last six years.
Source: Legit.ng
