TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT BUDGETING

Transparency and accountability in government spending are fundamental preconditions to achieve democratic reform and economic development in Nigeria. In recent years, civil society organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria have started a good number of initiatives that target issues of transparency and accountability in the government budgeting process. They also aim at broadening public involvement in the debate of government spending priorities.

Such initiatives are set at various levels of governance (federal, state, local); some of them target specific fields (such as education, health etc.) or issues (such as gender budgeting). They follow a variety of approaches: from capacity building and the development of tools for budget analysis up to advocacy and political campaigns. The Heinrich Böll Foundation currently supports a number of these projects.

The Guidance, Development and Counselling Association (GCDA) in Gombe undertakes budget monitoring and advocacy work with special focus on the health sector in Gombe State. The picture shows Mrs. Hannatu Ibrahim (GCDA), Mrs. Margarete Tanzmann (HBF Berlin), Axel Harneit-Sievers (HBF Lagos) and the Emir of Gombe discussing ways to improve budgeting in Gombe State (20 February 2004).

Like other areas of civil society engagement, CSO budget monitoring and transparency efforts are rather loosely integrated. Some networks have been established. Overall, however, the degree of co-ordination between CSOs active in the field, government officials involved in the budgeting process, and supporting donor agencies is low. Actors do not sufficiently exchange experiences and lessons learnt; they may unnecessarily double efforts when producing training materials etc.

WORKSHOP: Budget Transparency and Budget Monitoring in Nigeria: Experiences and Perspectives of Civil Society Organisations

On November 5, 2003, a one-day workshop at the HBF office in Lagos brought together representatives of CSOs and others who are active in budget processes, in order to review and compare the results of their work so far and to develop ideas about the future approaches of CSOs towards government budgeting.

The workshop's objectives were
1. To provide an overview about approaches currently applied towards CSO intervention in the budget process in Nigeria,
2. Specifically, to compare and analyse experiences made in budget monitoring projects, as regards interaction with stakeholders, with actors on the government level, and with the wider public (including the media), and
3. To identify "best practices", gaps, and "lessons learnt" from current projects, and to develop ideas suitable for future activities in the field.

The workshop not only provided an opportunity of experience-sharing and debate for CSOs that are active in budget monitoring projects. We also invited a number of government officials and media practitioners to share their experiences with and perceptions of CSO activities in the field. Not least, the workshop also provided an opportunity for a display of training materials developed and used in CSO budget monitoring projects.

[Read / Download the "Proceedings of HBF Budget Transparency Workshop"]
(.pdf document, 107 kB)

Are You Active in Budget Monitoring?

If your organisation is active in the field of budget monitoring, please send us an email to become part of the emerging network of budget transparency initiatives in Nigeria. We have established a mailing list to support networking: <budget_transparency@boellnigeria.org> .

See also: BUDGET MONITORING IN GHANA: WHAT LESSONS FOR NIGERIA?

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