The Ebonyi State Commissioner for Budget, Planning, Research and Monitoring, Mrs Deborah Chinwe Okah, has commended Governor Francis Nwifuru for his enormous support to the ministry to ensure that the budget calendar is strictly followed.
She made this commendation during a brief opening ceremony to commence the 2025 Budget Bilateral Discussions at the Budget Hall of the ministry, Centenary City, Abakaliki.
The commissioner, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Mrs Grace Mfom Williamson, said she was delighted with the readiness of the Budget Committee and the ministry to timely kickstart the process, which is expected to be concluded in a month.
She reminded the Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, to attach the required importance to the process and keep to their scheduled dates because of time limit.
In her words: “We want to advise that all the MDAs should be conscious of the enormity of this process and keep to their dates because everything we are going to do here has a time limit. We want to follow the calendar strictly because we have the mandate to get this done before the end of September.
“So for us to achieve this, we must stick to the days you are assigned to come so that we do not have to be shifting dates. All hands should be on deck because we are going to be having very smart discussions and everyone should come prepared with the templates to make it a smooth sail.”
She reiterated the need for MDAs to attach utmost importance to the process for the good of the people and the government.
On budget size, she said: “We want to see how we can have a concise budget. There is no sense in having a trillion budget that cannot perform; it is better to have one that we can make to work better, and that is the best practice. We should try as much as possible to be as low as we can, not to overshoot the ceiling.”
Mrs Williamson disclosed that the ministry has a budget manual online. She urged MDAs to avail themselves of the opportunity to read through as a guide.
She noted: “The budget template has come to stay and we do not set any template to punish MDAs but that the state will be better through it.
“It pains us when you do not ask timely questions, so if you have an issue with the template, come to the budget office for further guidance so that you can learn from there.”
The Permanent Secretary, who is also Chairman of the Ebonyi State Budget Bilateral Discussions Committee, said her members are seasoned, experienced and well prepared to ensure that the 2025 budget is well handled and timely prepared.
She appealed to the committee and Budget Support Staff to be ready to make the sacrifice with sleepless nights, punctuality, resilience and hard work so that at the end of the day, the government will be happy with the outcome.
She further said: “All these people who are involved in the budget process in the next one month will no longer pay attention to their wives, husbands and children because of the extra duties associated with this budget and I want all the MDAs to know this as a sacrifice and play their roles as expected for the good of all Ebonyians.”
The Auditor General of the state, Dr U.S.A. Udu, who is also a member of the Budget Committee, expressed happiness that the workaholic Accounting Officer (that is, the Permanent Secretary) of the Ministry is to guide the discussion of the government finances. He pledged to contribute his experience to get the financial document ready on time.
He wondered why most MDAs could not be able to hit 50 per cent of the budget as of June every year and pleaded with the governor on the need to approve the use of Departmental Vote Expenditure Analysis, DVEA, and Departmental Vote Revenue Analysis, DVRA, to monitor expenditures and revenues.
He frowned at the previous administration’s inaccuracies in budgeting and implementation and blamed it on the non-application of the DVRA and DVEA documents.
On his part, the Director of Macro in the ministry and key member of the budget committee, Mr Chijioke Ogbodo, reminded MDAs and their staff that the bilateral discussion is a serious business. He stated that the second most powerful document any country or state can ever have is the budget, while the first one is the constitution.
He agreed with the auditor general on budget lapses and reminded the committee that they have come to do serious business for the government. He urged them to do justice to it for the state to have a single financial document worthy of use.
In her remarks, Mrs Nnenna Una, who represented the Accountant General, maintained that the budget process is guided by a timeline. She commended the Ministry of Budget for a good job in kick-starting the process by sending out call circulars and, in that line, directed all MDAs on what to do and how to go about it.
Other members of the budget committee who spoke on their readiness to make the bilateral discussion a success were the representative of the Head of Service, Mr Mba Nnachi Okereke and the Director of Budget, Mrs Chinyere Ituma.
The Ebonyi State 2025 Bilateral Discussion, which is expected to end on September 20, 2024, will host 108 ministries, departments and agencies.