Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has projected that Nigerian economy will bounce back from the ailing status which accounts for economic recession if government at all levels of governance could vote 60% budgetary allocations to capital projects to stimulate and rebound the economic status.
The former president, who spoke with the Channels Television crew and other journalists in Abeokuta on the occasion of his 80th birthday on Sunday, said that Nigeria is still regarded as a developing country due to abysmally poor yearly budgetary allocations to capital projects over the years, saying Nigeria might not get anywhere to close to the developed countries of the world if disequilibrium between capital and recurrent expenditures were not balanced.
While lamenting continued extravagance of political office holders and abnormal allocations to overhead cost and recurrent expenditure, the octogenarian was of the opinion that government all levels should begin to cut cost of governance and vote more fund to capital projects for desired economic growth and development, adding that Nigeria’s government, as a matter of urgent policy, should embark on all the financial activities that could stimulate economy.
He said, “When I was in government, governors would come and ask me to share excess crude oil accounts. They would say after all the money belonged to all of us, but I refused, that was why we were able to do what we did. The overhead is too much, and we can not develop that way.
“Whether at the state level, federal level and even local government level, Nigeria overhead expenditure is to much. What we spend on capital is too small, may be the highest so far in this country is 30 percent. We should have at least 60 percent on capital expenditure. By that, we will open way for the economic development. I hope that Nigeria will still be great.”
