By Olamilekan Alani
About N3.124 trillion will go into debt servicing next year, according to a Budget Call Circular released by the Budget Office of the Federation (BOF).
The debt servicing obligations will be made up of N2.183 trillion for Domestic Debt and N940.89 billion for Foreign Debt.
In the document, N220 billion is proposed for Sinking Fund to retire maturing loans from Bonds and Treasury Bills.
The government targets about N12.658 trillion in 2021, out of which N3.086 trillion (excluding capital component of statutory transfers), has been set aside for critical capital expenditure.
They include: N1.485 trillion for MDAS’ capital expenditure; Capital Supplementation (N234.19 billion); Grants and donor funded projects (N337.06 billion); Special Intervention Programme (N20 billion); Government Owned Enterprises (N4335.59 billion) and Multi-lateral and Bi-lateral Project-tied loans (N674.11 billion).
In 2019, the Federal Government spent $1.31b on debt servicing.
The thrust of the Federal Government’s capital expenditure programme in 2021, the circular said, “will be the completion of as many ongoing projects as possible, rather than starting new projects”.
To achieve the objective, the BOF has warned Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) “that new projects will not be admitted into the capital budget for 2021, unless adequate provision has been made for completion of all.”
The circular noted that the government “in furtherance of its inclusiveness agenda, intends to sustain the Special Intervention Programme (SIP). Accordingly, a total of N420 billion is proposed to be allocated to the SIP”.
On personnel management, the BOF stated that all MDAs must ensure compliance with Service-wide Circular Ref. No 58775//T/358 on ‘Streamlining Procedures for Recruitment into Federal Agencies’ issued by the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) in respect of the procedure for recruitment into the public service”.
In order to check the incidence of ghost workers or inflated staff numbers, the BOF warned that all chief executive/accounting officers will henceforth “be held responsible for accuracy of the submissions in response to the Personnel Budget Call Circular (ref. BD/2000/EXP/S.651/991) issued in April 2020 to all MDAs by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
The circular reads: “All MDAS are now expected to comply with Presidential directive to enroll on then Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS). MDAS not yet on the IPPIS will not be accommodated in the personnel budget for 2021.
“MDAs have been enjoined to restrict their travels, training and capacity development programmes to locations within the country and as close to their office locations as possible.
“Foreign travels and training should be limited to exceptional cases and with necessary approvals in accordance with extant government policy.”
