Encomium
‘It’s frustrating businesses’
Months after the 2014 budget was transmitted to the National Assembly where it was passed, President Goodluck Jonathan is yet to sign it into law.
Considering the fact that we are in May already, entrepreneurs are now worried about the situation. Here are their views…
MR. LATIN
It’s sad and inappropriate that the 2014 budget has not been passed into law. Now, the first quarter of the year is gone, government itself is yet to have a sense of direction as regards its activities for the year.
What do we now expect of every other private sector or individual whose business plan is dependent on government plan? It’s no doubt that every entrepreneur largely depends on the annual budget to set out his or her business plan for that year.
Surely, the delay in this year’s budget by the federal government is going to have an adverse effect on business activities this year.
OKE AKINWUMI, Hyssop Laundry & Dry-cleaning Services
It has really slowed down the economy, while some are closing down their businesses. We have very few people taking advantage of the situation at the expense of others. A working government will not wait this long to pass it into law knowing how sensitive it is to the economy. Early passage will help business and the economy at large. Let it be done on time.
CLEMENT NJOKU
This poses a serious and avoidable decline in our economy. The GDP was rebased recently, what are the basics without the budget to implement capital projects?
Signing the budget into law will go a long way to boost every aspect of the economy.
SHIRLEY IGWE, Shirlz Mega Concepts Ltd.
It is rather disappointing that President Jonathan has not signed the 2014 Appropriation Bill. I understand the bill was passed by the National Assembly on April 9 and 10, 2014, while the President was to receive it on April 22. Nothing has been heard about it till date.
It has serious economic implication, especially when it is a budget close to election year. Business will ultimately suffer because of the needless delay.
AMANDA AKHIMIEN, Ever After
The budget not passed into law after the first quarter has ended has made a lot of people skeptical and wary of spending money. The impact on my business is that clients always hold on to that and telling me they are waiting and it can slow down business.
TOYIN OYEDOLA, Teetop Entertainment
It is obvious that the economy will slow down without the budget implementation. Budget determines the spending power in the economy and if there is a delay, business people will reduce spending because there will be less money in circulation. Whatever affects government spending affects every other aspect of the economy. And the type of business I do will also be affected. For now, I can’t push out any plan because there is no money to execute such plan. There are some shows we wanted to do but there is no finance.
MARYAM ELISHA, Rikaoto
The delay in passing the budget is most regrettable we all know that economic activities are facilitated by the budget. The year is already far spent. We should even be talking about 2015 budget proposal.
If the federal government is yet to pass the budget in May, then there is a big problem. Individual businesses would be in ‘coma’. So, something urgent has to be done.
OLUBUNMI AKINBULIRE, Heritage Homes Events
The reasons people complain is because there is no money to spend and delay in budget is one of them. It is affecting our business development plans. Some companies we approached for business complained that there is no money.
