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The
director-general of the Budget Office of the Federation, Bright Okogu,
yesterday, blamed ministries, departments and agencies as well as the
National Assembly for delaying annual appropriations. Speaking at the
second Economic Policy and Fiscal Strategy Seminar in Abuja, Mr. Okogu
said that the MDAs focused more attention on revenues allocated to them
than the value to the people. Mr. Okogu also noted the difficulties in
operating fiscal federalism in the country, saying that it has been
hard for the government to implement the provisions of the Fiscal
Responsibility Bill the way it was conceptualized because of states’
insistence that the federal government cannot make laws for them,
particularly on issues that have to do with revenue allocation.

“The
deterioration in the fiscal discipline in recent times could be
attributed partly to the insistence by the states on the constitution,
particularly that all monies collected must be paid into the federation
accounts, that even savings in the excess crude oil account belongs to
them, and they should be allowed to share it as and when they feel the
need to,” he said. According to Mr. Okogu, in an environment where
stakeholders always have to restructure and reconcile the difference in
figures between what the executive proposed in the Appropriation Bill
sent to the National Assembly and what comes out as the final figure
included in the Act.

Challenging limit

Former
minister of finance, Mansur Mukhtar, also said that political
pressures, particularly from states, to share monies from the excess
crude account and to raise the benchmark oil price, as well as the
strong interests of the lawmakers to promote constituency projects,
also affected the budget process.

“Even
within the ministries, the budget process has always been characterized
by competition in the allocation of resources,” he said. “It is
difficult to insulate the system from these pressures. But it is all
about the ability to reach a consensus through interaction and dialogue
that is important.”

Defective structure

The
chairman of the House Committee on Finance, John Enoh, called for the
engagement of the lawmakers in the budget preparation process to avoid
discrepancies that resulted in long delays in appropriation.