The Impact of Control Measures on Budget Implementation in Nigeria: Study from 2012 to 2016

The effectiveness of a budget lies in early planning, early approval, implementation and auditing. If any of these four stages of a budget cycle is defective and fraught with errors, there is the tendency that such budget may either yield poor result or become counter-productive. This study examines the theoretical and empirical necessity of control measures such as fiscal responsibility, assessment of projects by certified agencies, oversight functions of the members of National Assembly, etc., in budget implementation, in the light of developmental objectives of budget in Nigeria. The research aims at identifying the impediments to effective budget control and implementation. The study also investigates control measures that are necessary in the implementation of the Nigerian budgets inclined towards development. Among the research questions the study posed were; what are the major impediments to effective budget implementation in Nigeria? and which control measures are in place to support effective budget implementation in Nigeria? This is a survey research and adopts qualitative and quantitative research design using structured questionnaire for data collection. In-depth interview was also conducted and data were collected from fourteen (14) budget experts comprising serving Directors in Federal Ministry of Finance, staff from Auditor and Accountant General’s Office, members of the National Assembly and Academic staff of Monotechnics, Polytechnics and Universities. Purposive sampling technique, (which groups respondents according to pre-selected criteria) was adopted. One thousand two hundred and fifty (1250) questionnaires were administered, the face-to-face interview was conducted to complement the questionnaire. Data were analyzed using both inductive and deductive approaches. The result shows that the major identified budget impediments such as falsification of budget figures, corruption and unpatriotic behaviour of the members of the National Assembly have totally defeated the rationale behind the existing control measures. Among the research findings is that the Nigerian budget has not brought desired development, development such as reduction of poverty, generation of employment opportunities, infrastructure, education, security etc. under the study period of 2012-2016. The study recommends some achievable strategies to make the control measures more effective in budget implementation, which include unbiased public hearing/budget defense, quick release of fund/auditing of the fund and appropriate adherence to oversight functions of National Assembly Budget Implementation Committee. A generic budget citizen’s perception of budget model establishing the relationship among budget impediment (BI), budget solution (BS) and effective budget implementation (EBI) has been developed and suggested by the research study. Finally, the research has contributed to existing body of knowledge through the designing of citizen’s perception of budget model; the model is tagged Citizen’s Perception of Budget (CPB) which is empirically derived as:

and empirically expressed as:

 where β = the slope, or regression coefficient of each variables hence filling the knowledge gap that existed in the impact of control measures on budget implementation geared towards development in Nigeria. The Citizen’s Perception of Budget model which is the outcome of the research findings may be adopted in related research areas and evaluation process.

Key Words:Budget, Budget Implementation, Control Measures, Expenditure, Fiscal Year, Income,