Obviously, in many ways budget documents
are the most important manifestation of public they record the outcome of the
political process, winners and losers of the political competition. They
delineate government total service effort. As political documents’ budget
allocate scare resources among competing social and economic needs. As
managerial documents’ they specify the ways and means for providing for government
services. By establishing the costs for various programmes they set up the
criteria by which government
programmes are to be reviewed and evaluated.
Budget has become the main instrument by which government attempts to manage
economic growth and development. Budget become accounting instruments by which officials are held
accountable for what government does and does not manage to accomplish. In Nigeria the basic requirement for the budgetary process in the
public sector are provided for in the current constitution of the Federal
Republic, Financial Memorandum Abdullahi
(2008). The budgeting exercise at the federal level is strictly governed by the
provision of the 1999 constitution. This
involves the required process through
the budget must undergo before it becomes an appropriation act of parliament which strictly speaking is a form
of law binding on and guiding the executive in terms of the implementation of the budget provisions and executing
the intending projects and programmes.
At the state level budgeting is also
governed to some extent by the
constitution (1999) as well as the financial regulations. Nevertheless it is a different
procedure at the local level. He local councils
in the country are strictly under
the regulations of the state
house of Assembly which regulates their administrative and financial operations, besides the
financial memorandum.
This shows that the budgetary process at the local level is largely regulated by the executive as well as the
State House of Assembly.
The introduction of the
budgetary control mechanism and its implication in National Development
cannot be complete the
conceptual framework of the term
budget.