Revamping The Government Budgeting System In Nigeria

Abstract

Government Budget enables government, to set priorities and monitor progress towards selected goals. There are two basic elements of any Government budget. The two basic elements are the revenues and expenditure. Government revenues are derived primarily from taxes while Government expenditure includes spending on current goods and services, which economists call government consumption; government investment expenditures such as infrastructure investment or research expenditure; and transfer payments like unemployment or retirement benefits. A budget is said to be a failure when it is deficient; it is better when it is balanced; and it is best when it has a surplus. Unfortunately, Nigeria's Federal Budgets since 1997 (last time Nigeria recorded a budget surplus) had been in acute deficit. The Nigerian Budget needs total revamping and in doing this Government efforts should be geared towards Control, Auditing and Accountability in the public sector,  Reduction in the cost of public service , Corruption in general  and the issue of  Security votes should be given primary attention if the  country must move forward.

KEYWORDS: Nigerian Government Budget, Revamping the Budget, Stages of Government Budget preparation in Nigeria, Budgeting System in Nigeria.