2010 budget: Can N1.85tr boost infrastructure devt?

BY UDEME CLEMENT

After what could be described as exhaustive debate and thorough scrutiny, the Senate and House of Representative finally endorsed N4.6 trillion budget, being the total financial package proposed by the Federal Government for 2010 fiscal year. Approval for the much-talked about budget came on the heels of the declaration by government to grant refineries autonomy to operate independently with a view to enhancing capacity utilisation to boost crude oil production in the country.

TOTAL BREAK-DOWN OFTHE BUDGET

The total financial statement of N4,608, 676,276, 213 trillion, for the economic year is made up of capital expenditure of N1, 853,906,761,420 trillion, while recurrent expenditure is put at N2, 077, 358, 560, 347 trillion. N497,071,797,452 billion is the amount appropriated for debt servicing while N180,279,158,994 billion is reserved for statutory transfers. The budget is pegged on a benchmark of $67 per barrel of crude oil production capacity of 2.35 million barrels per day with an exchange rate of N150 per dollar.

BACKGROUND DETAILS

Accordingly, the 2010 budget also gives priority for infrastructural development in the country, with N1.85 trillion, which is 40 per cent of the total budget for capital expenditure. Thus, going by the previous records on financial appropriations in Nigeria , the current budget is the highest proportion earmarked for capital development since the return to democratic rule in 1999.

This financial document shows a great disparity between what the present government wants to achieve in terms of social-economic development and what was obtainable in the past. But the questions begging for answers are, can N1.85trillion boost infrastructural development in the country, considering the level of deficiency in the industrial sector of the economy? When would budget for capital expenditure be higher than what is required for other services in Nigeria ?

CRITICISM

Judging from the above financial analysis, the 2010 budget, with
N1.853,906,761,420trillion for capital expenditure, is a clear indication that government would spend more money in paying salaries and other services than capital investments in the economy. This, according to experts, has serious economic implication because economic growth and development, especially for a third world country like Nigeria requires huge investments in various sectors.
The experts believe that tangible investments must be on ground for government to achieve more income flow in the economy and relative full employment, since absolute employment is not attainable in any economy no matter the level of growth. They are also of the opinion that more money ought to have been appropriated for capital expenditure to foster industrial development with a view to propelling economic growth in the long-run.

SENATE’S PERSPECTIVE

A member of the Upper House, Senator Abubakar Umar Gada, also the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Downstream Petroleum, told Sunday Vanguard that immediate passage of the budget became imperative to boost infrastructural development and continuity in government’s policies. “We want the nation to move forward. Ultimately, we want economic growth and development. So, for us to achieve these objectives, the budget must be passed on time to ensure projects execution at the three tiers of government”, he enthused.

INDUSTRY PLAYERS

However, most manufacturers are of the opinion that sufficient funds should be put into the energy sector to solve the perennial power crisis that is almost crippling every sector of the economy, especially manufacturing. This implies completion of power projects across the country and adequate gas supply to power the plants.

Feature: What's Different about Writing for the Web-Trenton Moss

Writing for the web is totally different to writing for printed matter. We tend to scan content on the web hunting for the information we're after, as opposed to reading word-for-word. As a result of this, there are certain guidelines you should be sure to follow when writing copy for your website:1. Use clear and simple languageReading from computer screens is tiring for the eyes and about 25% slower than reading from printed matter. As such, the easier the style of writing the easier it is for site visitors to absorb your words of wisdom.Some techniques for using clear and simple language include:- Avoid slang or jargon - Get your grandmother and ten year old nephew to read your site - if both can understand the page content you've done well! - Use shorter words where possible - ‘Begin’ rather than ‘commence’, ‘used to’ rather than ‘accustomed to’ etc. - Avoid complex sentence structures - Try to include just one idea or concept per sentence - Use active ahead of passive words - ‘We won the award’ is shorter and easier to comprehend than, ‘The award was won by us’ 2. Limit each paragraph to one ideaIf you assign just one idea to each paragraph site visitors can:- Easily scan through each paragraph - Get the general gist of what the paragraph is about - Then move on to the next paragraph All this and without fear that they'll be skipping over important information, because they will already know roughly what the paragraph is about.Limiting each paragraph to just one idea is especially effective when combined with front-loading paragraph content.3. Front-load contentFront-loading content means putting the conclusion first, followed by the what, how, where, when and why. The first line of each paragraph should contain the conclusion for that paragraph, so site visitors can:- Quickly scan through the opening sentence - Instantly understand what the paragraph is about - Decide if they want to read the rest of the paragraph or not Because each paragraph contains just one idea, users can do all this safe in the knowledge that if they jump to the next paragraph they won't be missing any new concepts.Front-loading also applies to web pages, as well as paragraphs. The opening paragraph on every page should always contain the conclusion of that page. This way, site visitors can instantly gain an understanding of what the page is about and decide whether they want to read the page or not.Unfortunately many websites don't adhere to this guideline and end up writing page content in a story-format. On each page there's an introduction, middle and conclusion, in that order. Unfortunately, when scanning through web content we don't tend to read all the text nor read all the way to the bottom of the screen. As such, you may easily miss the conclusion if it's left until the end.So remember, conclusion first, everything else second! For a great example of front-loaded content, just read any newspaper article. The opening paragraph is always the conclusion of the article.4. Use descriptive sub-headingsBreaking up text with descriptive sub-headings allows site visitors to easily see what each section of the page is about. The main heading on the page provides a brief overall view of what page is about, and the opening paragraph gives a brief conclusion of the page (because you've front-loaded the page content). Within the page though, there are various sub-themes which can be quickly put across with sub-headings.There's no hard and fast rule for how frequently to use sub-headings, but you should probably be roughly aiming for one sub-heading every two to four paragraphs. More importantly though, the sub-headings should group on-page content into logical groups, to allow site visitors to easily access the information that they're after.5. Embolden important wordsAnother way to help users locate information quickly and easily is to bolden important words in some paragraphs. When site visitors scan through the screen this text stands out to them, so do make sure the text makes sense out of context.Embolden two to three words which describe the main point of the paragraph, and not words on which you're placing emphasis. By seeing these boldened words site visitors can instantly gain an understanding of what the paragraph is about and decide whether or not they want to read it.6. Use descriptive link textIn the same way that bold text stands out to screen-scanning web users, so does link text. Link text such as ‘click here’ makes no sense whatsoever out of context so is useless to site visitors scanning web pages. To find out the destination of the link, site visitors have to hunt through the text both before and after the link text.7. Use listsLists are preferable to long paragraphs because they:- Allow users to read the information vertically rather than horizontally - Are easier to scan - Are less intimidating - Are usually more succinct 8. Left-align textLeft-aligned text is easier to read than justified text, which in turn is easier to read than centre- or right-aligned text.When reading through justified text the spacing between each word is different so our eyes have to search for the next word. This slows down our reading speed. Right- and centre-aligned paragraphs slow down reading speed even more because each time you finish reading one line your eye has to search for the beginning of the next line.ConclusionThese eight guidelines are nothing revolutionary nor are they difficult to implement. Yet so many websites structure their content so poorly to the detriment of their site visitors. Have a quick look over your website now - how does it do?