Posted by From Kunle Aderinokun in Abuja on
The Federal Government has stated that in its bid to save cost, the 2009 Budget President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua will present to the National Assembly in October will reduce a number of projects for which resources will be appropriated.
The Federal Government has stated that in its bid to save cost, the 2009 Budget President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua will present to the National Assembly in October will reduce a number of projects for which resources will be appropriated.
Finance Minister, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, dropped the hint yesterday in Abuja at the second batch of Federal Government's Medium Term Sector Strategies (MTSS) designed for the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
He said priority would be given to any project initiatives submitted by each MDA by taking into consideration the limited financial reality of the government.
The MTSS session was designed for the MDAs to brainstorm and develop strategies which will form the basis for the country's budget cycle for the next three years.
According to Usman, the MTSS derived from the harmonised development plan of the National Economic Empower-ment and Development Strategy (NEEDS)-2 and the 7-Point Agenda would prioritise best initiatives of each sector before admitting them into the budget.
'Consequently, funding for many initiatives will, unfortunately, have to be postponed to outer years, while other projects may have to be discarded if found not to be aligned with the higher policy objectives of government or considered not critical.
'However, those optimal initiatives that are critical to the achievement of the most cogent sector goals will be admitted into the 2009 budget," he said.
The MTSS session was designed for the MDAs to brainstorm and develop strategies which will form the basis for the country's budget cycle for the next three years.
Usman said since the beginning of this week, heads of MDAs in eight sectors were able to identify the existing projects and programmes and scored them based on their past jurisdiction, current sectoral impact and their future likelihood of completion within the 2009-2011 budget cycles.
Specific goals, he noted, which were set by each sector were sub-aggregated into three core objectives to be achieved.
'Outputs and outcomes corresponding to these initiatives were quantified by key performance indicators against which the results of implementation may be empirically tested.
'The scoring of both existing and new initiatives is the first step in the prioritisation process through which the infinite number of possible sector strategies must be reconciled with the stark reality of our finite financial resources," he said.
Speaking earlier, Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation (BOF), Dr. Bright Okogu, noted that the Federal Government was moving toward a performance-based budget system (PBBS), which he said, went beyond the financial monitoring of expenditure.
According to him, the Federal Government also sought to ensure efficient service delivery in budget.
He said: 'Given this scenario, due care must be taken to ensure that the MTSS captures projects and programmes, which are considered by the ministry as priorities and that such projects and programmes are in line with the development programme of government (Seven-Point Agenda; NEEDS-II), are properly cost and are within the resource constraints specified for each ministry.î
The Federal Ministry of Finance, had last Monday, commenced the 2009 Federal Government Budget process with the Minister, Usman, saying it would be ready for Yar'Adua to present to the National Assembly in October.
Speaking at the opening of the MTSS in Abuja, Usman had said the Federal Government was starting early with a view to ensuing that the 2009 Appropriation Bill was passed by the legislators and assented to by the President before the end of December.