President Muhammadu Buhari is prepared to present the 2023 appropriation bill to the National Assembly in September.
The Director General, Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze, at a training on budget preparation using the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System, in Abuja, represented by the Director, Expenditure (Socials) in the Budget Office, Fabian Ogbu, said the federal government under Buhari is determined to ensure consistent and timely preparation, submission and approval of annual budgets as part of its Public Financial Management (PFM) reforms.
Akabueze, however, lamented that MDAs do not study the Budget Call Circular in detail and as such make mistakes that should ordinarily be avoided if they had complied with the relevant sections of the Budget Circular.
The Director General, Budget Office, had stated: “The main goal of this training is to provide continuous learning to equip budget personnel with the requisite knowledge, skills, and the tools they require to prepare and submit the 2023 budget.
“It has been observed that MDAs do not study the budget circular in detail, as such make mistakes that should ordinarily be avoided if they had complied with relevant sections of the budget cycle.”
He said the 2023 budget is also being prepared in tandem with extant federal government policies and guidelines as articulated in the 2023 Budget Call Circular and other relevant laws/regulations.
To address this, Akabueze said one of the modules at the training would address key items and sections to note in the 2023 Budget Call Circular.
The two-day nationwide training on budget preparation is organised for over 4,000 budget officers drawn from about 900 ministries, departments, and agencies of government.