Public Budget and Budgetary Control in Nigeria
PUBLIC BUDGET AND BUDGETARY CONTROL IN NIGERIA
INTRODUCTION
In many ways budget documents are the most important manifestation of public they record the outcome of the political process: winners and losers of the political competition. They delineate government total service effort. As political documents budget allocate scarce resources among competing social and economic needs. As managerial documents they specify the ways and means for providing for government services. By establishing the costs for various programs they set up the criteria by which government programs are to be reviewed and evaluated. Budget has become the main instrument by which government attempts to manage economic growth and development. Budgets become accounting instruments by which officials are held accountable for what government does and does not manage to accomplish. In Nigeria the basic requirement for the budgetry process in the public sector are provided for in the current constitution of the federal republic, financial regulations and financial memorandum (Abdullahi 2008). The budgeting exercise at the federal level is strictly governed by the provisions of the 1999 constitution. This involves the required process through the budget must undergo before it becomes an appropriation act of parliament which strictly speaking is a form of law binding on and guiding the executive in terms of the implementation of the budget Provisions and executing the intending projects and programmes.
At the state level budgeting is also governed to some extent by the constitution (1999) as well as the financial regulations. Nevertheless it is a different procedure at the local government level. The local councils in the country are strictly under the regulations of the state house of assembly which regulates their administrative and financial operations, besides the financial memorandum. This shows that the budgetry process at the local level is largely regulated by the
INTRODUCTION
In many ways budget documents are the most important manifestation of public they record the outcome of the political process: winners and losers of the political competition. They delineate government total service effort. As political documents budget allocate scarce resources among competing social and economic needs. As managerial documents they specify the ways and means for providing for government services. By establishing the costs for various programs they set up the criteria by which government programs are to be reviewed and evaluated. Budget has become the main instrument by which government attempts to manage economic growth and development. Budgets become accounting instruments by which officials are held accountable for what government does and does not manage to accomplish. In Nigeria the basic requirement for the budgetry process in the public sector are provided for in the current constitution of the federal republic, financial regulations and financial memorandum (Abdullahi 2008). The budgeting exercise at the federal level is strictly governed by the provisions of the 1999 constitution. This involves the required process through the budget must undergo before it becomes an appropriation act of parliament which strictly speaking is a form of law binding on and guiding the executive in terms of the implementation of the budget Provisions and executing the intending projects and programmes.
At the state level budgeting is also governed to some extent by the constitution (1999) as well as the financial regulations. Nevertheless it is a different procedure at the local government level. The local councils in the country are strictly under the regulations of the state house of assembly which regulates their administrative and financial operations, besides the financial memorandum. This shows that the budgetry process at the local level is largely regulated by the