The Nigeria Labour Congress has raised alarm over the delay in the passage of the 2018 budget by the Federal Government. The General Secretary of the Congress, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson in an interview with newsmen on Thursday in Abuja lamented that it was unfortunate that the country was still debating a budget whose implimentation should have started on January 1.
“We are in April, already into the second quarter and the budget is still not passed so, we cannot even say definitely when it will be passed. The budget is supposed to among other things show the direction of the economic policies for the year, which will then influence the economic planning by economic agents, both in the private and the public sector.
Because in the economy, people response to the economy of the budget, so if by the beginning of the second quarter, we still have not had the budget passed, it means that they are having economic function without direction.
This does not help the economic performance of the country and I think it is rather sad. “Whatsoever, whosoever that are responsible for the delay, I think they have to be called to order in the interest of the country and the budget needs to be passed, ‘’he said
He noted that the delay in the passage of the budget would affect its implimentation in a long run.
“Because by the time the budget is now passed either in May or June or whenever, the implementation will then roll over to the next year and this does not allow for smooth execution. Therefore, poor budget performance is the outcome of this type of situation‘’ he added.
