Civil Society and the Budget Process in Nigeria :

Opportunities, Successes and Challenges

Hilary OgbonnaProject Coordinator

Budget Advocacy and Capacity BuildingActionAid 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 Monitoring and Evaluation

Budget Preparation

Budget Implementation

Budget Approval

The Budget Cycle

Budget Stages

• Identify priority areas for development and sources of revenue; money allocated to priority areas.

Formulation or preparation

• Gets the approval of the law makers to generate revenue from sources identified and to spend money on identified priority areas.

APPROVAL or ENACTMENET

• Money is generated and spent as approved.

implementation

• Allows for monitoring and finding out as to how well the money was generated and spent.

monitoring or audit/evaluation

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 TOINFORMATION

ACCESS TOPARTICIPATION

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

Survey of Citizens' Challenges in the Budget Process in Nigeria

05

101520253035

Capacity Funds Absence of LegalFramework

Attitude ofGovernment

Challenges

Perc

enta

ges

Source: ActionAid Mapping of CSO Budget Work in Nigeria (2006)

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

Comparisons of Allocations to the Tiers of Government in Nigeria (Jun. 1999 & Apr. 2007)

-20,000,000,000.0040,000,000,000.0060,000,000,000.0080,000,000,000.00

100,000,000,000.00120,000,000,000.00140,000,000,000.00160,000,000,000.00

LGA States FG

Tiers of Government

Allo

catio

ns (i

n B

illio

ns N

)

Jun-99

Apr-07

Source: Federal Ministry of Finance

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:

• Focal States-– Kano – CISHAN– Rivers – CIRDDOC and CISHAN.– Lagos – JDPC & AIDS Alliance

HIV & Health

CISHAN & AIDS Alliance

Agriculture & Education Education

JDPC 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.