By Henry Ekwuruke
After a long history of poor and corrupt economic management in Nigeria, a group of Nigerian professionals led by Mr. A. O. Ege (South East), Chairman of the National Policy Training Workshop on the Implication of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (2007) on the Public Internal control system have come up with great recommendations that aims to change the way Nigeria conducts business.
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It is a true shame that for the nearly 49 years of Nigeria's independence, we have not managed our finances well in the service of the people. Our fiscal policies have been largely characterized by poor planning, massive waste and wrong priorities. We have rarely failed to match our fiscal responsibility acts with the right policies thereby making effective and efficient service delivery impossible.
Whereas the Government of Nigeria enacted the Fiscal Responsibility Act (2007) which has as its focal point the prudent management of the nations resources anchored in Accountability, and Transparency with the establishment of a Fiscal Responsibility Commission to ensure the promotion, implementation and enforcement of the Act.
The Office of the Auditor General of the Federation in conjunction with the Leading Edge Academy conducted a 4-day National Policy Training Workshop on the “Implication of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (2007) on the Public Internal Financial Control System at the last quarter of last year, where erudite scholars and professionals in relevant fields converged at the Kaduna Trade Fair Complex from the six geo-political zones of the country to discuss on this very important development.
This workshop became imperative as Nigeria has grossly under utilized the large monies it has earned from oil and has been faced with the inability to ensure sound fiscal management by all tiers of government. While most participants highly commended the Federal Government for the enactment of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (2007), they noted with keen interest that this is the first time in the history of Nigeria where an enactment is accompanied with a body to enforce/ implement such policy while urging government to overcome major setbacks of implementation by utilizing a strong enforcement mechanisms.
The workshop had the dream of the success of the Act and recommended its enshrinement in the Nigerian Constitution to solidify and make it more permanent where manipulation will be difficult. They also want the states and local governments to compliment the federal government's vision by enacting same law in there various states and respective councils where the majority of Nigerians residence.
Finally, the group want funding for the new Fiscal Responsibility Commission to come from the Consolidated Revenue Fund in order to forestall delay occasioned by administrative bottlenecks while making the Commission truly independent. They also recommended that government put her acts together in order to give the Act its deserved place in the media and the Nigerian people's mind by embarking in aggressive campaign to create awareness as they further argued would enhance people's compliance.
Mr. A. O. Ege observed that, “we need to take fundamental action to attack fiscal inconsistency and indiscipline from the head to the root.” He further stressed that rather than contract consultants, government would need to strengthen its workforce to undertake the challenges of fiscal responsibility.
Looking forward, ensuring transparency of policy intentions and fiscal effects of public policy is a reality and that will definitely ensure that it is no longer business as usual in Nigeria.
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Published: 03/04/2009