The two arms of the National Assembly, NASS, yesterday declared that the 2016 budget was full of errors, hence it will not be passed on February 25 as earlier promised. Following this report, the Nigeria’s Ministry of Budget and National Planning took responsibility for the situation, saying it understands why the document was full errors. Information Nigeria in this light brings you 3 things they said you should know…
– The ministry said the errors in the 2016 Budget were due to lack of technical knowledge of the bureaucracy on the Zero-Based Budgeting System adopted for the first time in the country to put the appropriation plan together.
– Charles Dafe, Director of Information, Ministry of National Planning said in a statement that civil servants saddled with the task of preparing the budget for their various ministries, departments and agencies were still grappling with some of the technicalities of the new Zero-Based Budgeting approach as it is still new to them.
– According to the director, before now, government used the envelope system of budgeting, which has been in use by the Federal Government since 2003 and works by providing each MDA with a maximum amount for its capital and recurrent needs for the fiscal year.
– This, he said is in contrast to the Zero-Based Budgeting approach, which is a system of budgeting that reverses the working process of traditional budgeting by ensuring that all expenses must be justified in the new period.
The ministry assures the general public that it will continue to liaise with the relevant committees of the National Assembly to address any issues that have arisen, or may arise.
What do you think???
