Civil Society and the Budget
Process in Nigeria :
Opportunities, Successes and
Challenges
Hilary Ogbonna
Project Coordinator
Budget Advocacy and Capacity Building
ActionAid Nigeria/ADVANCE
Introduction
• The Budget is a framework through which
government provides for the welfare and
the security of the people.
• The budget satisfies political and social
interests.
• The Budget can also be a tool to measure
government’s commitments to its local and
international obligations.
Nigeria’s Budget Process:
Political Context
• Nigeria was under military dictatorships for 29
out its 47 years of nationhood.
• Budget preparation and execution in a very large
respect exclude citizens’ participation.
• Civil society lacks the following skills that will
enable them participate in the budgetary
process:
– Budget analysis
– Advocacy
Nigeria’s Budget Process:
Institutional Context
• Current structure of Budget systems and processes in
Nigeria do not admit for the participation of non-state
actors.
• The budget at all levels of government do not have direct
links to the implementation of major government policies.
• The National and State Assemblies lack adequate
capacity and enabling environment to play oversight
functions on the budget process.
• The civil service structure (the back bone of the budget
process) does not support a participatory, transparent
and people-oriented budget.
Nigeria’s Budget Process:
Legal Context
• Weak Constitutional framework regarding
the budget process.
• Lack of adequate legal frameworks for:
– Legally backed participation.
– Budget calendar.
– Budget ceilings for critical sectors.
Understanding Nigeria’s
Budget Process
Budget Approval
Budget Preparation
The Budget Cycle
Budget Monitoring
and Evaluation
Budget Implementation
Budget Stages
Formulation or preparation
•Identify priority areas for development and sources of
revenue; money allocated to priority areas.
APPROVAL or ENACTMENET
•Gets the approval of the law makers to generate revenue
from sources identified and to spend money on identified
priority areas.
implementation
•Money is generated and spent as approved.
monitoring or audit/evaluation
•Allows for monitoring and finding out as to how well the
money was generated and spent.
Budget Formulation
• Major Activities:
– Issuance of Budget Call Circulars.
– Estimation of revenue and sources.
– Formulation of Major Economic Policies and
Frameworks
– Drafting of estimates of expenditure
• Major Actors:
– Ministry of Finance
– Budget Office
– Other Line Ministries, Parastatals, Departments and
Agencies
– Civil society
Budget Enactment/Approval
• Major Activities:
– Presentation of Draft Budget to the Legislature.
– Budget Debates in the National and State
Assemblies.
– Budget Defence by Ministries, Departments and
Agencies before the legislatures.
– Approval of the budget by the legislature.
• Major Actors:
– The National, State and Local Government
Legislatures (National Assembly, State Houses of
Assembly and LG Legislative Council)
– Civil Society
– Ministries, Departments and Agencies
Budget Implementation
• Major Activities:
– Revenue generation and mobilisation
– Award of contract as specified in the budget.
– Release of funds (Note the roles of the MOF, CBN and
Accountant General).
– Physical monitoring of project sites/programmes
• Major Actors:
– Ministry of Finance, Ministries, Departments and Agencies
– Accountant General, RAMFC, FIRS
– The National, State and Local Government Legislatures
(National Assembly, State Houses of Assembly and LG
Legislative Council)
– Civil Society, Media
– Ministries, Departments and Agencies
Budget Evaluation/Audit
• Major Activities:
– Physical assessment to:
• Determine value for money,
• Prevent or reduce the impact of frauds and losses
• Determine compliance or violations of financial rules and procedures.
– Receipt of summary of revenue and expenditure
– Ministerial Monitoring of the process
• Major Actors:
– Ministry of Finance, Ministries, Departments and Agencies
– Auditor General, National Planning Commission
– The National, State and Local Government Legislatures (National
Assembly, State Houses of Assembly and LG Legislative Council)
– Civil Society, Media
– Ministries, Departments and Agencies
Constraints and Challenges in
Civil Society Budget Work in
Nigeria
Analysing the Access Principles
• What are the Access Principles:
– They are indicators used to highlight and
measure citizens’ engagement in the
budgetary process.
ACCESS TO
INFORMATION
ACCESS TO
PARTICIPATION
THE
BUDGET
ACCESS TO
JUSTICE
Access to information:
• The ability of the citizens to obtain budget
related information from the government and
public authorities. Access to government
expenditure and revenues and other policy
documents.
• Constraints:
o The inability to access information as to the revenue
of government including crude oil proceeds. (Note:
Volatility in the Niger Delta and the Middle East have
not helped citizens to keep track of oil revenues).
o Access to budget document still remains problematic
in most States in Nigeria
Access to participation:
• Citizens providing informed, timely and
meaningful input and influence policies (budget)
from formulation to implementation and review
stages.
• Constraints:
– Participation in the budget formulation is still very low.
This is as a result of the attitude of public servants
who still give an oracle status to the budget.
– Auditing and evaluation of the budget implementation
is still hampered as a result of the absence of
enabling laws which will provide access to information
regarding the utilization of public funds.
Access to justice:
• Access to impartial arbiters to enforce access to
information participation.
• Constraints:
– Absence of a legal framework to guarantee access to
information relating to contract figures and funds
releases.
– Nigeria’s judicial system remains largely untested in
citizens’ enforcement of the budget provisions.
– Constitutional gaps reflected in ouster clauses still
bars citizens from bringing certain forms of actions.
Other Challenges
• Capacity:
– Few organisations exist in Nigeria today that
can do effective budget work especially in the
area of advocacy and analysis.
• Character of Some Nigerian CSOs
– Issues around transparency, accountability
and operations.
• Inadequate Legal Framework
• Absence of Donor Coordination
Survey on Challenges in
Participating in the Budget Process
Percentages
Survey of Citizens' Challenges in the Budget Process in
Nigeria
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Capacity
Funds
Absence of Legal
Framework
Challenges
Source: ActionAid Mapping of CSO Budget Work in Nigeria (2006)
Attitude of
Government
Combating the challenges
• Need to build capacity of civil society to
participate in the budgetary process.
• Advocacy skills to be imparted on civil
society for people centered budgeting
• Need to build capacity of media on budget
reporting and analysis.
• Need to strengthen public-private
partnerships.
Celebrating Civil Society
Budget Work in Nigeria
Successes in CSO Engagements
• Capacity Building:
– Presence of various capacity building initiatives across the
country at all levels.
– Development of effective methodologies to cascade capacity to
community levels.
– Community Movements for Budget Advocacy and Monitoring.
• Engagement with major economic policies of
government:
– Participation at the development of the Medium Term Sector
Strategies (MTSS)
– Government has appointed a CSO representative in the MTSS
Committee for 2008-2010.
– Contribution into NEEDS -2
• Successful Partnerships:
– CSOs have established credibility and have earned the respect
of both the BOF and the National Assemblies.
Successes in CSO Engagements
• Heightened government’s consciousness and interests
in budget monitoring.
– The Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on
the MDGs – DRG Monitoring.
– Last year, the Budget Office embarked upon a nationwide
monitoring of projects with civil society representations.
• Emergence of sectoral budget works:
– ActionAid has pioneered citizens’ engagements with sectoral
budgets especially in HIV& AIDS, Education and Agriculture.
– Other CSOs including coalitions have embarked upon sectoral
budget works.
• Emergence of strong legislative advocacy efforts:
– Civil Society Budget Hearing Sessions at national and some
States.
– The drafting of the Federal Budget Bill
– Engagements with the FOI and the FRB Bills.
Current Opportunities
• Democratic governance:
– Opening of participatory space in the National and
State Assemblies.
– Improved access to budget information/data.
– Election and Transition: New stakeholders
• Huge crude oil savings/statutory allocations.
• The Debt Relief Gains
• Increased donor interests in funding budget
work.
Huge increase in Statutory
Allocations
Jun-99
Apr-07
LGA
5,724,313,294.27
59,799,804,018.78
States
7,158,700,230.47
115,445,699,538.17
FG
11,184,058,554.69
148,030,108,356.67
Total
24,067,072,079.43
323,275,611,913.62
Huge increase in Statutory
Allocations
Allocations (in Billions N)
Comparisons of Allocations to the Tiers of Government in Nigeria
(Jun. 1999 & Apr. 2007)
160,000,000,000.00
140,000,000,000.00
120,000,000,000.00
100,000,000,000.00
80,000,000,000.00
60,000,000,000.00
40,000,000,000.00
20,000,000,000.00
-
Jun-99
Apr-07
LGA
Source: Federal Ministry of Finance
States
Tiers of Government
FG
The ADVANCE Budget Advocacy
and Capacity Building Project
OBJECTIVES
• Build capacity of civil society to engage in the budget
process through analysis and tracking of funds
• Create space for civic engagement in the budget
process.
• Promote transparency and accountability in the budget
process.
• Enhance civil society and government partnerships
through policy monitoring and advocacy
• Build the capacity of the media in policy and budget
monitoring through advocacy and reporting.
Outcomes
• Civil society capacity to analyse public budgets
built.
• Civil society capacity to engage in budget based
advocacy built.
• Public – Private partnerships for an effective
budgeting process strengthened.
• Space for civil society engagement in the budget
process widened.
• Media monitoring and reporting of the budgetary
process enhanced.
METHODOLOGY
•
•
•
•
Partnerships
Capacity Building
Advocacy
Publications
…Tools Development
• Accomplishments:
– ActionAid and PACT staff sensitized on the
various capacity assessment tools of both
organizations.
– Capacity assessment tools developed for the
technical capacity assessment of budget
advocacy partners.
– Budget analysis tools developed
– Budget tracking tools for MDGs sectors
developed.
– Modules developed for capacity building in
budget analysis and advocacy.
People Centred Budget Advocacy
• Civil Society Participation in Major
Economic Policies
– Accomplishments:
• ADVANCE facilitated civil society participation in
the NEEDS 2 process.
• Production of a Memorandum on the NEEDS 2
• ADVANCE facilitated Civil Society Summit on the
2007 Federal Budget.
• Civil society engaged with the National Assembly
on various sectoral budgets.
Strengthening Civil Society-Government
Partnership for Accountable and
Transparent Budgeting
• Accomplishments:
– ADVANCE pioneered the Civil Society
Government Forum on Budget Implementation
with 4 MDGs Ministries delivering up to date
reports.
– Civil society inputs in the framework MDGs costing in
Nigeria from 2008-2015.
– Facilitated the participation of civil society in the
Medium Term Sector Strategies (MTSS) Process.
– ADVANCE Staff nominated into the Ministerial
Committee on the MTSS Process 2008-2010.
Capacity Building for Effective
Participation in the Budget Process
• Accomplishments:
– The ADVANCE Budget Analysis and Advocacy
Training (BAAT) Program launched.
– Civil Society Fellows trained in advocacy, budget and
policy analyses; Governance and Macroeconomic
issues.
– Media practitioners trained on the role of media in
advancing people centred budget in 2007 and
beyond.
– Media reportage of the 2007 budget process.
Meet a BAAT Fellow
• George Hill Anthony –
National Coordinator,
NDEBUMOG
– Trained Legislators in
the Niger Delta on Pro
Poor Budgeting,
funded by NDI.
– Embarked on
advocacy for the
establishment of Due
Process Office in
Cross River State.
Media Investigative Reporter
• Mr. Emmanuel Maya, a Punch Reporter
who was trained under the ADVANCE
Project acquired skills to analyse budget.
• His report on squandering of HIV Funds
won him the following awards:
– Journalist of the Year Award in the Nigerian
Media Merit Awards.
– Investigative Journalist of the Year in the
Wole Soyinka Awards for Journalisms.
Provision of External Technical
Support
• Provided Technical Assistance to the
National Democratic Institute to train 20
staff of NASS on Gender Budgeting in
March 2007.
• Partnered with Project Hope and the
EFCC to Train 30 Journalists on HIV
Budget Analysis under the Fix Nigeria
Project.
New Opportunities at State level
• On the 2nd of May 2007, ADVANCE signed a
one-year agreement with 4 State partners:
HIV & Health
CISHAN & AIDS Alliance
Agriculture & Education
JDPC
• Focal States– Kano – CISHAN
– Rivers – CIRDDOC and CISHAN.
– Lagos – JDPC & AIDS Alliance
Education
CIRDDOC
ActionAid’s roles
• Providing Capacity in Budget analysis, advocacy and
monitoring.
• Developing models and tools for analysis, monitoring
and advocacy.
• Opening participation spaces for civil society in the
budget process.
• Creating linkages with government agencies and
institutions.
• Coordinating networking amongst partners and with a
broader civil society audience.
• Creating linkages at State, national and international
levels for effective implementation of the project.
Emerging Opportunities
• Possibility of the passage and signing of
Sunshine Bills (FOI, Fiscal Responsibility,
Public Procurement etc).
• Imminent Constitutional Reforms.
• Under ADVANCE:
– Extending flagship fellowship programs to a
broader spectrum of civil society and media
actors.
Thanks.