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The Need for Close Monitoring and Full Implementation of 2008 Budget

Written by Ameh Monday

Monday, 26 May 2008

To appreciate the importance of budgeting in an economy, it is pertinent for us to have a grasp of what budgeting means. According to the New Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language International Edition, “budget is a written statement of money: where it is drawn from, its amount, how it is to be spent, the annual estimate of revenue and expenditure for governing a country, fixing the level of taxation until the next budget...."

From the foregoing definition, it is obvious that budgeting should be taken very seriously by government as it spells out in definite terms how and when money accruing to its coffers is disbursed for running government businesses and policies that affect the lives of the citizenry.

A budget is equally important to every individual because it focuses not only on goal setting but facilitates the means of accomplishing such goals. The success or failure of any set goal by either an individual or government depends on how well planned or faulty a particular budget proposal is.

One of the recurring problems that have bedevils Nigeria since the advent of democracy in 1999 has been the delay in the passage or inadequate monitoring as well as haphazard implementation of the national budget by the legislature on the one hand and the executive on the other.

This ugly trend has brought untold hardship to Nigerians irrespective of class or status. Civil and public servants are not paid their wages for months because of lack of cash backing. This phenomenon became a very popular slogan during the tenure of the immediate past administration.

However, Nigerians were hopeful that with the assumption of office by the incumbent President Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who is an advocate and believer in the rule of law, the process and end result of budget passage which normally ends up in stalemates and the attendant heat-up of the polity by the actors will become a thing of the past. But events in the polity have so far showed otherwise as the same old song is rehash about the budget process.

As a result of the crisis that rocked the House of Representative under the erstwhile speaker (Olubunmi Etteh’s) involvement in the house renovation scam, the 2008 budget witnessed some delay before its eventual presentation to the members of the National Assembly on November 8, 2007 by Mr. President. Members of both chambers however, promised Nigerians an early passage of the budget before the end of year 2007.

Despite all the assurances by the lawmakers it is ironical a quarter of the fiscal year went without the budget being passed into law. By this act, a lot of Nigerians were subjected to psychological trauma due to the delay in the passage of the 2008 budget.

The eventual signing into law of 2008 budget on the 14th April 2008 needs a lot of appraisal to ascertain reasons for the delay so that subsequent budgets by this administration will not suffer the same fate in the hands of the legislature and the executive.

The executive arm of government should henceforth, carry the lawmakers along in the process of formulation and preparation of the national budget. This will give them a participatory opportunity where all the grey areas will be thrashed out from the onset.

Accordingly, this will help to curtail the usual rancours and controversies which normally trail the passage and signing into law of the budget by the legislature and the executive.

The present lawmakers and President Umaru Yar’Adua should endeavour to break the jinx that has characterized the nation’s annual budget since the return to democracy in May 1999.

Prior to this time, Nigerians heard the nation’s budget through a presidential broadcast on New Year day where they stay glued to their radio and television sets to listen to the budget estimates for the year by the military.

It has thus, become imperative for the lawmakers and the executive to take steps and prove to Nigerians that the nation’s budget can be ready for enactment into law and promulgated on the 1st January of every fiscal year in a democratic dispensation.

Now that the budget has been passed into law and the process of disbursement is on-going, the lawmakers should step-up their oversight functions to ensure that money appropriated to government agencies and departments are closely monitored from the point of disbursement to the implementation stage, to ensure that they are not siphoned, embezzled or diverted to private accounts.

As a matter of urgency, it is crucial to block all the loop- holes now rather than waiting until the damage has been done for “a stitch in time, saves nine” This option is better than waiting until the eleventh hour when the money would have been mopped up by the economic saboteurs before acting.

The setting up of panels of enquiry by the lawmakers to investigate anyone or any government agency after the deed has been done as seen in the ongoing probe of the power sector by the House of Representative appears belated and retrogressive as revelations emanating from the probe is mouth boggling and shocking as very huge amount of money has been embezzled and diverted to private pocket while the power sector continues to wobble.

While one is not in any way against any form of probe by the lawmakers as it is their constitutional responsibility, it is pertinent to note that digging into the past is very cumbersome, time consuming and depletes government resources. It might also adversely affect the capability of the lawmakers in making quality laws for the good governance of the people of Nigeria.

The Ministry of Finance which is statutorily saddled with the responsibility of disbursement of appropriated funds in collaboration with the Budget Office should on a monthly basis publish the details of allocation to the State and Local Governments as well as the MDAs at the Federal level to enable Nigerians monitor and scrutinize the implementation of the budget. This will indeed, go a long way in curbing the embezzlement of public funds and corruption as a whole in our nation.

The various arms and levels of government and their agencies should equally render to Nigerians on quarterly basis their financial records for public scrutiny. This will in no doubt promote transparency, accountability and probity in our country.

It is indeed common knowledge that there are cliques of Nigerians who wait on the budget of their Local Council or State Government to ‘partake’ in the sharing of national cake leaving such councils or states with peanuts to attend to the pressing needs of their people. If there is a regime of water-tight monitoring of budget implementation process, no Local Government Chairman or State Governor will dare share their budget with either their god fathers or god mothers as the case may be as doing so will be at their peril.

The ICPC, EFCC, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Ministry of Finance as well as the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation should also closely keep their eyes on the manner and ways funds are disbursed and how it is spent to ensure that the budget is fully implemented to the later.

The media as the fourth estate of the realms has a critical role to play in monitoring the implementation of the budget through the instrumentality of investigative journalism by giving updates on the budget from the disbursement stage to the execution point.

The civil societies should also serve as ‘whistle blowers’ to expose anyone who tries to divert public funds under his/her care, and this is the most reason why the Freedom of Information Bill should be looked into seriously with the objective of passing it into law.

If the rumour that the House of Representative has thrown it out is true, the lower chamber should as a matter of urgency rescind its decision and re-present the bill for legislative scrutiny, the bill should be reappraised and given accelerated passage because Nigerians deserve the right to know, The era when government business is shrouded in secrecy is gone for good.
This is hoping that the Senate will not toe the same line as their counterparts in the lower chamber because doing so will be counter-productive and will cause a big set back in the anti corruption crusade. It is my opinion that the preparation for 2009 budget should commence in earnest to avoid the past experiences.

Finally, it is my advise that Mr. President should ensure that the N2.748 trillion he signed into law is fully implemented for the benefit of all Nigerians and for the progress and development of our dear nation.

Ameh Monday is a Political Science student at the University of Abuja, Nigeria, and a Public Affairs Analyst.

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