Future budget projections will henceforth require Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to show evidence of funds utilisation.
This is one of the critical additions to the budget reforms being undertaken by the Federal Government, as it reintroduced cash management function into the nation’s budgeting process.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this in her remarks at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) 2020 Virtual Leaders’ Summit Roundtable on ‘Open Recovery.’
The minister said the initiative will ensure conversion of liquidity into the achievement of outputs and outcomes.
Ahmed said, “In addition to existing OGP measures around budgeting, citizens engagement, open contracting, anti-corruption and others, we have introduced measures to ensure sustainability, enhanced fiscal prudence and transparency.
“Going forward, government is coming up with the establishment of a technology-enabled result-based performance management framework to track expenditures under the Economic Sustainability Programme, including the fiscal stimulus package and other government interventions.”
She further remarked that the government will use tax expenditure statement as a key reporting tool on the Nigerian tax system, providing estimated cost of the main tax expenditures in a year in terms of revenue forgone.
On the poor and vulnerable Nigerians, Ahmed said the Federal Government is developing a ‘Rapid Response Register’ (RRR) to quickly scale up the enrolment of poor and vulnerable citizens mainly in urban areas.
“The poor and the vulnerable Nigerians are to potentially benefit from cash transfers to cushion the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic,” she stated.
The payments, according to her, will be made directly to the accounts of the individuals using their bank verification numbers (BVN).
She clarified that data for the register are being sourced through primary and secondary sources, including the Nigeria Inter-bank Settlement System (NIBSS) and the National Communication Commission (NCC) database on mobile phone users.
She said, “Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic under the leadership of Mr. President has been proactive, people-oriented and aimed at averting drastic economic decline and protecting our most vulnerable citizens.
“A key priority for the government is deploying funds transparently and in a targeted and efficient manner that maximises the impact, in keeping with the government’s commitment under OGP national action plan.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the critical importance of targeted interventions that have built in safeguards to ensure transparency, accountability, prevent corruption and ultimately strengthen the social contract between governments and citizens.”
The minister stated that Nigeria joined OGP and other member-countries in promoting a global response that is underpinned by the principle of accountability, transparency and inclusiveness, which ensures citizen-centred and sustainable recovery.
She added that this has become imperative given Nigeria’s limited fiscal space and low domestic revenues.
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