Strict compliance with the January – December life cycle for national budgets, achieved since year 2020, could suffer a setback.
In spite of provisions in the Fiscal Responsibility Act for early commencement of budget processing, to ensure prompt realisation of the country’s economic objectives for the year, no serious groundwork has begun.
One lawmaker lamented the danger in delaying the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for the 2024 fiscal year, a document, which he said ought to have been sent to the two chambers of the National Assembly by the end of AFrom Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, Abuja
“By this time, last year, the National Assembly had already fully deliberated on, and passed the MTEF for the 2023 national budget, which led to its early presentation by former President Muhammadu Buhari on October 7, 2022. Where are we now? I think the relevant committee of the Senate should take the matter up with the executive,” the lawmaker advised.
Legally, the MTEF is the basis for preparation of the budget, which is why the Fiscal Responsibility Act states: “Government corporations shall submit their budget estimates and proposed operating surplus to the minister of finance not later than August and shall form part of the draft budget submitted to the parliament.”
Section 11(1) (b) of the Act equally makes it mandatory for the President to “not later than four months before commencement of the next financial year, cause to be prepared a MTEF for the next three financial years.”
“The framework, so laid, shall be considered for approval with such modifications, if any, as the National Assembly finds appropriate by a resolution of each House of the National Assembly.”
The lawmaker said the MTEF is so serious a document to be treated with levity because it is the legitimate and legal beginning of budget preparation, adding that it gives life to the budget because the Federal Government cannot commence work on a budget without the MTEF.
Meanwhile, a civil society organisation, BudgIT, which has been expressing concerns on the need for early release of the MTEF, said: “The Nigerian budget is broken and has delivered sub-optimal results because it has not been linked with national strategic plans written for the medium or short term.”
Global director, Oluseun Onigbinde, noted: “The budget must be a yearly resource plan to deliver a nation’s coordinated vision; it must be self-evident in its line items and ensure these fit into grand ideas to deliver sustainable growth.”
The Guardian
