The Budget is the most important development document after the Constitution. It guides the focus of an elected government and provides a point of reference for accountability and transparency in public sector resource management. Its importance is therefore not overrated in the provision of good governance and development for the citizens.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on the 8th of October 2020, presented the proposed 2021 Federal Government budget estimates to the joint sitting of the National Assembly. The proposed Revenue and Expenditure were N7.89 trillion and N13.08 trillion respectively, resulting in a N5.20 trillion deficit.
The fundamental flaw in the budget is not the budgetary estimates for sectorial expenditures, nor the level of deficit but the level of participation of citizens in its development.
The two chambers of the National Assembly have postponed plenary to give room for its various committees to commence the review of the 2020 budget implementation and as well as enable Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) defend their 2021 budget proposal.
All these are done with little or no citizen participation.
For sustainable development to be attained as enunciated by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) number 16, there is the need for participation and engagement of citizens in the development, implementation and monitoring of the public sector budget. This gives an added impetus to ownership and sustainability of government resource management.
The Public sector budget development and implementation in Nigeria has been under-going improvements over the years but has still not actively involved the citizens in most of the process steps. These steps include the Budget development, presentation, passage/accent, implementation, monitoring etc.
Over the years, the development stage has been shrouded in mystery as most States and the Federal Government have always excluded the citizens from making inputs into the final document that is presented for passage to the Assembly. This first step, which is crucial in the harvesting of community ideas into the interventions proposed by the Government, is the primary point for engagement by the citizens. As a result of this, many of the projects proposed by the Executive most often have no consent of the people and do sometimes lead to white elephant projects which are later abandoned.
The second step which is the Passage/Accent stage, involves scrutiny by the Legislature on the proposal and amendments before final passage. This phase also presents a remedial opportunity for citizens to make inputs into the documents. This stage has largely screened out community and citizen participation as almost all states and the federal government, have not been organizing Public Hearing on their Appropriation Bill. Many Houses of Assembly organized what they term “Budget Defense for MDAs” and citizens are not invited to make inputs to the process. This is another lost opportunity for engagement with the people.
The implementation stage has always been without the involvement of citizens and this has sadly brought our public sector governance to a moribund level where citizens do not have confidence in the government ability to effectively and efficiently manage the common wealth.
RECOMMENDATIONS
To ensure that there is effective involvement and engagement of the citizens, it is recommended that:
• Budgets or Appropriation Bills, being legislative instruments, must be treated as any other Bill. There must be adherence to and promotion of Public Hearings during the Budget passage in the National and States Assemblies. This will provide a platform for citizens to make their inputs and engage the Budget proposal.
• There must be enforcement by the National and States Assemblies for Constituency briefing by elected representatives especially during the Budgetary process.
• There must be a framework for citizens’ engagement with the Budgeting process. This must include participation at all levels of the process. Inclusion of community initiated projects must be made a priority to foster inclusive governance.
• Legislations should be enshrined that engender community participation in our budgetary process.
• Community awareness engagement should be enforced to increase participation and inclusion.
Humbly submitted by:
Mark Asu-Obi
CBCN National Assembly Legislative Liaison Officer/PM, Good Governance,
Caritas Nigeria