VOA慢速英语:New 'Budget of Change' in Nigeria

Nigeria has a federal budget following months of debate between President Muhammadu Buhari and lawmakers.
尼日利亚颁布的一项联邦预算，引发了立法者和总统穆哈茂杜·布哈里之间长达数月的辩论。

Officials are calling the new $30.4 billion spending plan the “Budget of Change.” The president signed the plan into law last month.
官员把这项304亿美元的新支出计划称为“变革预算”。总统上个月签署了这项计划，使之合法。

The measure includes money for roads, railroads, bridges and social services. Buhari said he hopes the spending plan will show Nigerians that their lawmakers can spend tax money wisely.
计划中包含了拨给道路、铁路、桥梁和社会服务的资金。布哈里说他希望这项支出计划能够让尼日利亚人民看到，他们的立法者是可以善用税金的。

In the past, critics say, Nigerian lawmakers used the federal budget to steal public money.
评论家称，过去尼日利亚的立法者利用联邦预算来贪污公款。

Some political observers see the new budget as a step forward for responsible spending in Africa’s largest economy.
一些政治观察员将此举视为非洲最大经济体向负责任的支出又迈出了一步。

Dauda Garuba is with the Natural Resource Governance Institute, Nigeria. He said earlier budgets were filled with money that went directly to lawmakers. And some budgetary proposals were in need of more study.
道达·加鲁巴在尼日利亚自然资源管理研究所工作。他说以前的预算的钱都直接流向立法者了。而且有的预算提案还需要进一步商榷。

Garuba said the months of negotiations between Nigeria’s national assembly and the president show this budget is different.
加鲁巴说，尼日利亚国民大会和总统之间长达数月的协商，显示了这个预算的不同之处。

“The bulk of the fights you were maybe hearing was an attempt by people to say, ‘No, we cannot do this business as usual’ and others saying that, ‘OK, if you cannot do this business as usual, we have to do our thorough jobs,’” he added.
“你正在听到的争论是一种尝试，大多集中于有人说‘不行，我们不能像往常一样做。’而另一些人就会说‘好吧，如果部门不能像往常一样做，我们就得采取强制措施了。’”他补充说。

But other Nigerians say the budget includes money for projects where corruption was a problem in the past. In the past, they say, lawmakers have made profits when large amounts of public money are spent.
但是也有尼日利亚人说预算里包含了拨给一些项目的钱，而在过去这些项目就是腐败高发地。他们说，在过去，立法者会在花掉大量公款的时候榨取利润。

Oluseun Onigbinde helped create BudgIT, a group that examines public spending. He criticized lawmakers for giving $500 million to what have been called “constituency projects.” These projects are designed to help the districts of some lawmakers.
奥卢苏恩·奥格尼宾德帮助建立了BudgIT这个组织，用来监督公款的去向。他批评立法者在所谓“选区项目”上花费了5亿美元。这些项目设立的初衷就是为了帮助某些议员的选区。

The spending “has nothing to do that has to do with core help for the people or maybe things that are sustainable,” he says. “It is just them [being loyal] to political party members and giving them what they feel they want to pass along.”
这些支出“与亟待帮助的人和可持续发展的东西毫无关系”，他说。“这只是向党派成员效忠的方式，给他们献殷勤而已。”

The Nigerian economy is close to entering a recession, partly because of the drop in oil prices last year.
尼日利亚经济已经接近萧条的边缘，一定程度上是因为去年油价的下跌。

Oil is Nigeria’s top export. A series of attacks on oil pipelines has caused production to drop by more than 500,000 barrels. This has weakened the economy even more.
石油是尼日利亚最大的出口商品。针对输油管道的一系列袭击已经使得原油减产了超过50万桶。这进一步削弱了该国经济。

Inflation has risen to almost 14 percent. The government recently raised fuel prices by almost 67 percent.
通货膨胀率已经上升到了近14%。该国政府最近已经把燃料价格提升了近67%。

Yusuf Shamsudeen is a program officer at the Center for Democracy and Development. He said Nigerian lawmakers should not have approved spending $577 million on the national assembly when the economy is weak.
优素福·萨姆苏丁是民主与发展中心的项目官员。他说现在尼日利亚国家经济这么困难，立法者本来不应该在国民大会上同意5.77亿美元的支出。

“This huge amount can be cut down to provide developmental projects to the citizens and address our economic problems,” he said.
“这么大一笔支出本来可以截下来提供给那些公民的发展性项目，解决我们的经济问题的。”他说。

Shamsudeen said the next step in judging the budget will be to see whether the money goes to the government programs it is supposed to.
萨姆苏丁说下一步就是审批这项预算了，到时候就可以看到本应该拨到这笔钱的政府项目有没有成功获得拨款。

I’m Christopher Jones-Cruise.
克里斯托夫·琼斯·克鲁斯为您报道。