Three years after the World Bank characterised and listed Nigeria as a fragile state, the country remains so listed in a 2007 study report alongside Burundi, Cambodia, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Kosovo (territory) and Lao PDR.
Other countries on the list are Papua New Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Tajikistan Timor-Lest, Togo, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Angola, Central African Republic, Haiti, Liberia, Myanmar, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
With revenue receipts for 2008 fiscal year, anchored on $53.8 per barrel of crude oil, the Federal Government has proposed a capital expenditure profile of N600 billion in the 2008. The budget is expected to be presented to the National Assembly this week.
In its recent report on engaging fragile states by its study group, the bank said: “As defined by the World Bank, all fragile states are characterised by weak policies, institutions, and governance.”
Fragile states, the report said, are:
“Home to almost 500 million people, roughly half of whom earn less than a dollar a day, fragile states, until recently known in the World Bank as low-income countries under stress (LICUS), have attracted increasing attention.
Concern is growing about the ability of these countries to reach development goals as well as about the adverse economic effects they have on neighboring countries and the global spillovers that may follow.
“With their multiplicity of chronic problems, these countries pose some of the toughest development challenges.
Poor governance and extended internal conflicts are common among these countries, which all face similar hurdles: weak security, fractured societal relations, corruption, breakdown in the rule of law, and lack of mechanisms for generating legitimate power and authority.
As low-income countries, LICUS also have a huge backlog of investment needs and limited government resources to meet them.
“Past international engagement with these countries has failed to yield significant improvements, and donors and others continue to struggle with how best to assist fragile states. LICUS are characterised by weak policies, institutions, and governance.
The bank identified 25 such countries in fiscal year 2005. These 25 countries have a number of similarities: their infant mortality rate is a third higher than that of other low-income countries, life expectancy is 12 years lower, and their maternal mortality rate is about 20 percent higher.
“There are also important differences among LICUS. Some grew at around 4 percent per annum during 1995-2003. Others had negative growth rates of a similar magnitude. Some have abundant natural resources, while others are resource-poor.
These differences are recognised in four business models that the bank developed to work with countries in crisis: deterioration, prolonged crisis or impasse, post-conflict or political transition, and gradual improvement”.
According to the bank, plagued by a multitude of chronic problems, fragile states pose some of the toughest development challenges; donors and researchers are grappling with how best to respond to LICUS and have chosen to focus on different aspects of the problem.
Bank lending and administrative budgets to LICUS have increased since the start of the LICUS Initiative and have amounted to about $4.1 billion and $161 million, respectively, during fiscal 2003-05; Post-conflict LICUS absorbed a large share of LICUS lending during fiscal 2003-05.
2008 budget
With revenue receipts for 2008 fiscal year anchored on $53.8 per barrel of crude oil, the Federal Government has proposed a capital expenditure profile of N600 billion in 2008. The budget is expected to be presented to the National Assembly this week.
Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Remi Babalola, who made the disclosure in Abuja, said the budget process for 2009 would begin in February 2008 to enable the government engage all stakeholders in the country in the budgetary process.
He said the 2008 budget process was ongoing with very wide consultation and that right from the onset, the leadership of the National Assembly, civil societies, the private sector, and ministry officials were involved in the process.
It was gathered that all stakeholders are involved in the formulation of the 2008 budget and each of those involved was given the fiscal strategy of the government as a guide.
Babalola said 60 per cent of the capital budget for 2008 would be put into use in the productive sector in order to grow the economy.
The focus of the budget, he said, was on four key areas: power: agriculture and water, education and security of life and property including the issue of Niger Delta.
The minister said government planned to provide a clear, coherent and consistent economic policy framework for the economy.
Babalola said it was the need for consistent policy framework to drive the economic reforms that made the Federal Government to abolish the waivers and concessions granted to individuals.
He said that such concessions granted in the past did not give a level playing field to economic operators, adding that the federal Government plans to give sectoral concessions which every operator in that sector will benefit from and not concession to individuals.
By Omoh Gabriel
Vanguard
Sunday, November 4, 2007
