Nigerian govt. planning zero-based budgeting for 2016

The Federal Government is
planning to use a zero-based
budgeting format for its 2016
budget planning, Vice President
Yemi Osinbajo has said.

The Vice President said the zero-
based budgeting would be
carefully coordinated to ensure
that it is policy-driven, especially
regarding the proposed social
intervention policy of the Buhari
administration.

Zero-based budgeting is planning
according to needs and costs,
different from the existing
Envelope Budgeting or
traditionally incremental
budgeting whereby the planning is
based on existing income and
expenditure as the deciding factor
in national financial planning
levels, which often incurs waste
and assumes previous costs as
constant.

According to spokesperson Laolu
Akande, Mr. Osinbajo, a professor,
spoke Monday in his office during
a courtesy visit by the National
Economic Summit Group (NESG).

Earlier Tuesday, the Vice President
also met with a delegation from
the Chartered Institute of
Stockbrokers (CIS) and the
Association of Stockbroking
Houses of Nigeria (ASHON).

The Vice President, according to a
statement by Akande, also told the
NESG that the introduction of the
new Treasury Single Account [TSA]
policy and its implementation by
ministries, departments and
agencies was a creative way of
blocking leakages in the system to
make way for a workable budget.

He said with the zero-based
budgeting, the Federal
Government would also focus on a
bottom-up approach to
development.

He disclosed further that the
Federal Government was planning
to set up an infrastructure fund in
order to facilitate easy funding for
critical areas of the economy.

The infrastructure fund, according to the Vice
President, would be planned outside of the
budget, to handle major segments of the
economy such as road and power.

“Government is working out a document that
would guide the administration within the four
years of its life-span”, he disclosed.
During the meeting with the NESG, the
delegation praised the Federal Government for
the introduction of the new TSA policy and
offered to be part of the advocacy as a sound
financial policy.

During his meeting Tuesday with the delegation
of Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) and
the Association of Stockbroking Houses of
Nigeria, the Vice President disclosed that the
Federal Government would explore the avenue
of utilizing the capital market as another means
of providing alternative funding options for the
execution of capital projects.

He also observed that allowing retail investors
to come into the nation’s capital market
ultimately would deepen the market with
potentials for multiplier effects on other sectors
of the economy.

The Vice President stated that some of the
problems of the capital market was due to
unethical practices by some market operators.
He said those who caused the crash in the
market in the past were not punished and called
on the two bodies to engage in self-regulation
as a means of protecting investors and the
market.

In his remarks during the visit, the leader of
the delegation and Acting President of CIS,
Oluwaseyi Abe, commended the achievements
of the Buhari administration within 100 days,
especially its impact on security, power and the
anti-corruption crusade, noting its positive
effects on the overall economy.
He therefore remarked that a new Nigeria was
being formed under the present leadership of
President Muhammadu Buhari.