Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajuddeen, on Wednesday, lamented that budgets have not met expectations of improved service delivery and development.
He stated this while speaking after the presentation of the N27.5 trillion 2024 budget by President Bola Tinubu.
According to Tajudeen, “Although the government budget is an important tool for economic management and promoting growth and development, it has generally not met the expectations of improved service delivery and development. This has largely been due to challenges relating to budget enactment, budget implementation and budget oversight.
“The well-known gaps in the various stages of the budget process underscore the need for budget reforms, including altering relevant sections of the Constitution and existing laws to strengthen the budget process and transform our budget into an authentic tool for development.
“For this reason, I propose enacting a Budget Act to strengthen the budget process and promote development outcomes. This is a well-established practice in democracies across the world.”
The Speaker said the House of Representatives would work with the Executive arm of government to institutionalise pre-budget engagements in order to hasten the budget process.
He added, “Going forward, Mr. President, we will also work to institutionalise pre-budget engagements with the executive to further improve and hasten the budget process. The House has already commenced interface with MDAs through the Sectoral Debates to understand the challenges facing government agencies and identify areas for legislative intervention.
“All of these efforts are geared towards ensuring that we provide the necessary legislative support to your administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.”