‘Recession to ebb next year’
By Abdullahi M. Gulloma and Emeka Nze
Abuja
The federal government yesterday revealed that it has captured the sum of N288.6 billion stolen funds partly recovered from looters, in the N7.3trillion 2017 Budget proposal before the National Assembly.
The revelation came as President Muhamamdu Buhari yesterday assured that the ongoing economic recession in the country would be mitigated in 2017.
Speaking at an interactive session with journalists on the public presentation of the appropriation bill at the old Banquet Hall, State House, Abuja yesterday, Director-General, Budget Office, Mr. Ben Akabueze, said part of the recovered funds is accommodated in the budget proposal.
“A total of N288.6 billion. This includes N97.6 billion which is equivalent of $220 dollars expected from Switzerland, part of what is called Abacha loot recovery. Then it also includes N72 billion that has already been received in recent cases of loot recovery.
“And a balance of N90 billion other expected recoveries that are at an advanced and reasonable stage that we feel comfortable and confident that they would come through in 2017. So they have been reflected in the budget,” Akabueze explained.
Also speaking at the forum, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, dismissed fears over the non approval of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, (MTEF) which preceded the budget proposal at the National Assembly.
Udoma stated: “With respect to the question about the MTEF, the National Assembly has the MTEF which has been updated. And they have the budget, so everything is with them. So, they will determine how they treat it. I am sure the sequence will be they do the MTEF before they do the budget. But everything is with the National Assembly.”
Meanwhile, President Buhari has expressed optimism that the current economic recession would ebb in 2017.
The president said this yesterday in Abuja while declaring open an induction course for ambassador-designates organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“We are optimistic that the external factors that partly contributed to push our economy into recession will ebb in 2017. Until then, I regret that the resources available to fund our missions abroad will not be as robust as we would like.
“We are working hard to turn around our national economy by effectively reforming our macroeconomic environment through measures, some of which were outlined in my budget speech to the National Assembly last week,” he said.
The president, who said the prevailing economic circumstances have led to a restructuring of Nigerian missions abroad, told the ambassador-designates that “as we are all making great sacrifices at home, we also expect you to similarly make judicious use of the resources put at the disposal of your missions.”
“As Heads of missions, you will be held accountable for the utilisation of all resources under your control. These are lean times, and all of us are expected to do more with less,” he said.
The president specifically charged the ambassador-designates to change the narrative of Nigeria outside the country by playing up the positive values and outstanding contributions of Nigerians in the global arena.
“I want to emphasise your duty to change the narrative of Nigeria as seen by the outside world. For far too long, we have allowed Nigeria to be defined by others, always emphasizing our negatives. To the average foreigner, Nigeria evokes 419, terrorism, militancy, communal and religious clashes, insecurity, corruption and all our other faults,” the president said.
Buhari also enjoined them to leverage on the achievements of Nigerians within the country and in the Diaspora like Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, Chinedu Echeruo, who founded Hotspot application which he sold to Apple for over a billion Dollars; Bayo Ogunlesi, who runs over a billion Dollar Infrastructure Fund and is now Adviser to US President-elect; and Jelani Aliyu, an accomplished car designer at General Motors.
“Indeed, these and other hardworking Nigerian professionals in the Diaspora have never forgotten their roots and have been making significant contributions to their communities back home, and even to our economy through their huge remittances,” he said.
He urged the ambassador-designates to sustain the work ethic characterized by the love of country, professionalism, excellence, integrity and honour associated with the “Nigerian diplomatic tradition established in 1957 by the pioneers of the Nigerian Foreign Service, sometimes referred to as the “Twelve Apostles” and also “bequeath same to succeeding generations.”
The president also charged the envoys to stress Nigeria’s commitment to international peace and security through contributions “to nearly every UN peacekeeping initiative since 1960 when we achieved our independence. In addition, we are the stabilizers and shock absorbers of West Africa having helped to contain potentially de-stabilizing developments in the sub-region.”
