News that the Budget Office of the Federation and the
Federal Ministry of Finance have commenced the processes for preparing the 2018
budget of the Federal Government must have delighted champions of fiscal
discipline...
The call circular for the personnel budget of the Ministries,
Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) of the government for the 2018 budget was
issued by the Minister of National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma in May
2017. At the beginning of August, the Federal Government also commenced the
training of 4,250 personnel to be involved in budget preparation from 800
Federal Government MDAs across the country. The training involves familiarizing
the budget officers on the Government Integrated Financial Management
Information System (GIFMIS). The main goal of this is to equip the nominated
personnel with knowledge, skills and the tools required to prepare and submit
the 2018 budget on time. The present administration adopted the Zero Based
Budgeting (ZBB) methodology to help ensure more optimal utilization of government
resources on projects, enhance the level of accountability and facilitate
monitoring as well as evaluation of capital projects. Moreover, to improve the
quality of budgeting process, the Budget Office made a commitment to making the
most use of technology and automation tools. For the 2017 Budget, MDAs prepared
and submitted their budget online and in real time, using a ZBB compliant
web-based application with no manual intervention. This intervention must be
applauded given the background of the distortion that has recently characterized the budget cycle. Stakeholders recall with concern that the 2018
budget of the Federal Government was assented to in June 2017, at a point when
the budget should have been at half cycle. Critical stakeholders in budget
matters are not unmindful of the fiasco that became the hallmark of budgetary
processes of the current administration at the federal level for two
consecutive years even when automation tools were employed in the case of the
2017 budget. The development has created a feeling of helplessness and
disenchantment over the budgetary process at the MDAs. The expectation is that
from this year, the government would restore the sanctity of the traditional
fiscal policy cycle of January – December budgetary operations. We urge the
Budget Office and the Ministry of Finance to adequately carry other ministries
and MDAs along in their automation regime as they would ultimately determine
how fast the system can run. If the goal of restoring the January-December
fiscal year which is constitutionally provided is to be achieved, we call on
the Federal Government to ensure early delivery of the 2018 Appropriation Bill
in October to enable the National Assembly to carry out its oversight function
on time.
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