Activists Bemoan ‘Corruption, Secrecy In Nigeria’s Budget Process’

By Adam Alqali
In an effort to promote transparency and accountability in budget implementation processes in Nigeria, the Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre (CIRDDOC) and the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD) organized a media roundtable for journalists in Abuja today, to enlighten them on the budget implementation processes and the role the media could play towards achieving effective budget implementation in Nigeria.
Delivering the keynote address at the roundtable, Dr Otive Igbuzor, the Executive Director of the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD) described the budget “as very important for the development of any country”. “The efficacy of the budget determines the success of governments in meeting societal needs. There is a process of making budget which should be open, transparent and participatory in order to bring about development,” he said.
“Unfortunately, despite enormous resources in Nigeria, the country and its people are poor partly because of corruption, secrecy in budget process and poor public finance management. This is why open budget is a necessity for development in Nigeria. Anyone interested in the development of Nigeria must join the movement for Open Budget in Nigeria.”
Also speaking, Barrister Oby Nwankwo, the Executive Director of the Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre (CIRDDOC) urged journalists to try and acquaint themselves with the budget processes so as to be able to competently engage government officials on open budget processes.
“Budget is undoubtedly a key government tool for the implementation of social, political and economic policies and priorities. Important and strategic as this tool is, the budgeting process in Nigeria has been characterized by lack of participatory approach and lack of gender considerations and social inclusion,” she said.