BUDGET AND BUDGETARY PROCESSES: DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION AND CIVIL SOCIETY INVOLVEMENT……youth perspective

A budget in a lay person’s words is a plan written down; stating clearly what (in terms of allocation of monetary resources) goes to where (in terms of location and purpose).Budget in other words is a well written out, explicit document or plan that states the activities of a person, a state, a nation or a community at large. In simple words it is a financial plan of activities over a period of time (Fiscal Policy). The time period can be 6months, 1year and in some cases two years. The budget may be subdivided into:
· Activities
· Finance proper
1. Activities: These may include priorities / needs of the people from the grassroots to the broader society (local, state and national).
Also activities may include the priority areas of the various ministries and the Federal Government at large. These activities spell out clearly the areas of interest in a fiscal year by both the synergy of that of the Government and the people.
2. Finance: This is the monetary aspect of the budget proposal or fiscal policy as the case may be. It spells out clearly the monetary allocation given to each need and or priorities of the government and the people.
Every budget passes through a process or stages known as budgetary process.
BUDGETARY PROCESSES
The process begins with the government of the day identifying and listing out their priorities. A master plan which covers or identifies also the people’s needs at the grassroots and also their priorities. The needs/priorities of the government may not be the same and it may also differ from locality to locality. Synergizing the needs and priorities comes in at this point. The master plan also identifies the different sectors that need monetary attention for example, the health sector, education etc.
The processes begin from grassroots prioritizing their need, then the various ministries and the Government. Costing of the needs follow suit and this is done by each of the government agency. Identification of needs / priority, costing of these needs become a budget proposal. Each government agency and / or ministries submit and defend such proposals before the executive arm of government. The Government (Executive arm) then presents collectively a proposal to the house of assembly for deliberation. The National Assembly collects the budget proposal and passes unto the finance committee of the house for assessment and deliberation. At this point various ministries may be invited to the house committee for further clarification and defense taking into cognizance of the past activity of that agency or ministry .it compares if the previously approved budget activity was actualized and of It is reflected in the present budget presented.
The committee handling the budget proposal now presents the budget proper to the whole hose for deliberation .if for any reason there are differences between the house of reps and the senate, they will be referred to the joint financial committee of the house of reps and the senate for reconciliation i.e. if the senate passed a budget of 200billion and the house of reps passed a budget of 180billion,only a joint committee can reconcile the figure and then deliberated upon by the house with a unanimous vote. At this point, the budget proposal is passed as a bill to be ascended to by the Presidency. If there is any discrepancy between the Executive arm of Government and the national assembly, the president could return the budget back to the National Assembly requesting for amendment. But if the house refuses to amend and send it back, they could request the executive to include complaints in the extra budgetary proposals. When the executive vetos the budget proposal into law without ascending to it, the budget after 30days without ascent of the presidency can be passed into law by the house of assembly as required by law. The budget here ceases to be a proposal and now becomes a FISCAL POLICY which is handed over to the ministry of finance for implementation. The house of Assembly in their over-sight function hast the right to monitor the budget implementation by various arms of Government irrespective of the committees set to monitor budget.
The whole budgetary processes most times are always very confusing and a little difficult for a lay person to understand. This may be as a result of the “big” words used and how voluminous the budget itself looks like. Also the budget looks very complicated because of the large figures and these make it even more difficult for people to understand especially the youths.
The process is such a long one that takes weeks/months and a large chunk of the processes is usually between the Executive and the legislative arm of government. Individuals, NGO’s, civil societies, youth representative/youth organizations, and activists most times may never have a say or contribute to the process. Even when the budget is passed into a bill and when it becomes a fiscal policy, it is seen a treasured and hidden document that might not be in circulation.
Tracking and monitoring of the budget implementation becomes even more difficult because the budget monitors sometime may not even understand what they are monitoring neither do they know the figure or amount of such allocations to a particular sector or locality.
Youth participation becomes even more unachievable because the whole process looks like a borrowed adventure and so it is seen as “a not my business affair”. Because of lack of connection between the budget and its processes to the youth and their future, many youths just don’t want to be involved.
I think a more democratic budget process will further resolve the confusion that has to do with budgeting recalling the fact that democracy is Government of the people, for the people and by the people.
The people here are the masses which include men, women, children, youths, aged, lay persons, YOU AND I.