2024 Budget: ‘We need to create opportunities for people to be gainfully employed as opposed to freebies’– Ibarapakan

 

The lawmaker representing Ibarapa Central and Ibarapa North Federal Constituency, Hon. (Dr.) Anthony Adebayo Adepoju, has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the proposed budget for the 2024 fiscal year, christened the Budget of Renewed Hope.

The lawmaker, who also doubles as the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Federal Character, expressed this during an interview session with the correspondents of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) during the week in the nation’s capital, Abuja.

Sharing his thoughts on the 2024 Appropriation Bill, Hon. (Dr.) Adepoju said President Tinubu is very optimistic about what the future holds for Nigeria. “We may not be as optimistic as Mr. President is because we have some areas where we may defer a bit, and I know from what he has done, he has done a good job so far. We are hopeful that the hope of Nigerians will be renewed based on what we have seen in the proposed budget. I think there may be a few things that would have been better for us to tweak a little bit, and that is where we come in as a legislature to make the budget more effective and better serve the needs of the people of Nigeria.

Commenting on the revenue for the N27.5 trillion proposed budget, the federal lawmaker expressed deep concern about the budget’s reliance on borrowing, suggesting the need to explore other revenue sources to develop Nigeria.

According to the lawmaker, there are many areas Nigeria can generate money from, rather than borrowing money every budget season to run the affairs of the country.

“I think we have come of age in Nigeria, where we really need to start thinking about diversification. I like the idea of diversification from oil revenue to non-oil revenue, and I think President Tinubu is really looking into solid minerals, and I am equally happy that Mr. Henry Dele Alake, who heads the ministry, is trying to drive that force.

“If we can have alternative sources of revenue for this nation, I think at that point we will be able to earn foreign exchange, and when we earn foreign exchange, then we will be able to drive the value of the naira up. I was consciously optimistic about where we would fix the value of the naira,” he remarked.

Expressing worry about the exchange rate of naira to dollar, Ibarapakan said that the budget is based on N750 to a dollar, questioning whether the development is realistic.

“As far as I am concerned, it is to bring foreign direct investments. When we bring foreign direct investment to this country, we are bringing foreign currency to the nation where we export things. The more foreign currency we bring to the country, the more it will help us drive the value of the naira up against the dollar. So, if we are not able to achieve N750 to a dollar, it means that right from the first of January, we are already running at a deficit. Let’s concentrate on the things that can bring in revenue. We have agriculture, and agriculture is very important. We have a lot of people who are farmers; we have farmers on a small and large scale, and they are all willing to work to contribute to this nation. I think it is high time we started exporting our agricultural produce. We can do it, and I am very optimistic about what Nigeria will look like in the next 7 years.

The lawmaker also seized the moment of the engagement to commend President Tinubu for prioritising education and the security of the nation in the budget, stressing that he shares a similar view with the president on the two significant issues. He expressed that education and national security are key to the development of any country.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu laid emphasis on security; that is excellent; I share his view on that. People coming into this nation to invest definitely want to make sure that their investments are secured, so I am excited about that. I am so excited about what we budget for education. Education is very important, and infrastructure is very important as well, but I also think we have not done enough in the aspect of agriculture. Agriculture should be something that is at the forefront,” he said.

Sharing his nuanced perspective on the various conditional cash transfers of the federal government of Nigeria, Hon. Adepoju said he understands that it will help keep people alive but expressed worry about the long-term impact of the initiative on the beneficiaries.

“I want us to invest this money in such a way that it gets to places we can use to develop this country, so when we spend so much money just to giveaway to the citizens, I understand it will help immediately alleviate the suffering of the people, but at the end of the day, what does it bring back? It doesn’t bring back anything; you can have the argument that it keeps people alive. Yes, that is true, but at the same time, how do we even account for this?

“What is the process we have in place to account for how this money will be distributed among our fellow citizens? I have a little bit of concern about that, and I feel it may not be the best way to increase the per capita income of this country because, when you are doing that, is money being received without any work done? So I think we need to create an enabling environment for people to be gainfully employed and earn a living, as opposed to just giving out freebies. For how long can we do that? What is the process put in place to manage this process? Those are my concerns.

“When we pegged the amount of crude, I think it is a fair place to put it, but I am not comfortable with N750 to a dollar. I think we are far from that, and we have to be very realistic; we cannot afford to start building castles in the air at this time. So we are hopeful, and we will be happy if we can do it, but with what we have seen so far, the fluctuation is a very incredibly unsettled market for us to fix at N750 to a dollar, which is overly ambitious at this time,” he opined.

While rounding off his speech, Hon. Adepoju expressed his belief that the budget has the potential to bring renewed hope to the people of Nigeria and to make meaningful progress in addressing the nation’s most pressing challenges, noting that he is optimistic about the future and encouraging all Nigerians to work together to make the vision a reality.