BY: ANIEKWE CHIBUZOR.
Senior Special Assistant to the Executive Governor of Enugu State
Affa/Ikono/Oghu Ward.
One of the major agenda of socio economic rights and accountability project is FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY.
It is the framework for open government while its parameters form the hallmark of Public Policy Democracy. Observers and Scholars of development and Public Finance would easily be in unity by agreeing that the Rt. Hon. Dr. Ifeanyi L. Ugwuanyi has entrenched unique paradigm evidently captured in democratization of his Public Finance development and management. It is therefore this democratization of Public Finance that among other tendencies brought the Ugwuanyi led administration into a warm embrace as a fiscal responsibility regime.
The increasing public participation in the administration’s budgetary process draws greater impetus to the fact that Public Finance is literary the Finance of the People and this is the very true essence of democracy beyond victory at the polls. Currently, the reform which brought inclusiveness in NEED GENERATION of budgetary expenditure items and also a full disclosure of government’s expected sources of revenues with their underlying assumptions to the people is a major milestone in the advancement of democratic tenets anywhere in the world.. Presently, it is my considered opinion that His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Enugu State through the State Ministry of Budget has fully internalized and consciously implemented the Charters and ramifications of a FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY REGIME by inculcating and sustaining the following CHARTERS AND TENETS;
1.) Bill for an act for the enactment of Enugu State Fiscal Responsibility Law (House Bill 4, 2018) to entrench Transparency and Accountability as a matter of legality other than leaving same at the whims and caprices of individual leader’s subjective morality. For any Leader who subjects his tenure under this kind of legal scrutiny shows that such leader does not live in glasshouse and therefore could throw stone.
2.) Medium Term Expenditure Framework (M-TEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper. A fiscal responsibility regime shall always pursue greater Macro Economic sustainability and stability by creating a medium term economic framework and a strategic direction for it realizable. This medium term plan therefore encompasses all the annual budgets in the years under review and ensures continuity of thoughts, projections and realignment in events of variances between budgetary assumptions and realities.
3.) OPEN GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES: Open Government Initiatives is an initiative of the Social Justice reform which provides greater democratic temerity to the people by fostering deeper disclosures to the people on the activities of government especially in Public Finance. His Excellency the Executive Governor of Enugu State Rt. Hon. Dr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has SIGNED-IN to the Open Government Initiative thereby committing to abide by its derivatives. On a very special note therefore, it is worthy to point out some significant areas in which the Executive Governor; His Excellency, RT Hon. Dr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has demonstrated in clarity the embodiment of a Fiscal Responsibility Regime.
A.) The Bottom –Top Community base Need Generation approach to budget data gathering which the present administration has embarked upon is a testimony to Open Government Initiative, Transparency and Accountability and also People Centric Approach to governance especially in issues of Public Finance. The Honorable Commissioner for Budget has had to interface with the Traditional Rulers and President Generals to ensure that items of expenditures as contained in budget reflect the aspirations of the people.
B.) BUDGET REVIEW. Bearing in mind that a budget is largely a piece of intentions built around some assumptions made based on some socio economic expectations, it is not unlikely that there could be some deviations between those projections and realities.
It is on this backdrop that Budget Review becomes necessary to access the performance of the outgone budget in order to identify in most cases, actual deficits, reasons for deficits, the items in deficits, and budget virements its justifications as well as basis for re-occurrence of some budgetary items in budgets The introduction of this review exercise is a milestone into transparency and accountability and above all, a financial total quality management undertaking.
C.) ULTIMATELY THE 2021 BUDGET: The Enugu State Appropriation Act 2021 as signed into law by His Excellency the Executive Governor of Enugu State, Rt. Hon. Dr. Ifeanyi L. Ugwuanyi is the greatest modern day exhibition of the Spirit and Letters of Fiscal Responsibility.
It also connotes a magnanimous departure from ordinary where a 3rd world government went into self-denial to appropriate 40% of its annual budget to recurrent expenditure while devoting 60% of same budget to Capital Expenditure with little or no deliberate projection for Capital deficit. (greater emphasis to be done in next episode)
The implications of this unique budgetary structure is the Governors avowed determination to fullfilling all the electioneering promises in spite of negative circumstances that were not contemplated as at the time of conceiving those promises. The twin events of COVID-19 Pandemic and #ENDSARS waterloo brought untold difficulties to the ability of Government to remain through to budgetary proclamations. Budgetary Item Virements were unavoidably adopted in favor of health sector which has unprecedented circumstantial expenditure demand. In an extraordinary show of commitment to the tenets of FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY, His Excellency has surpassed all known benchmarks for Micro and Macro Economic Sustainability.
Governor Ugwuanyi has indeed set a robust path for economic recovery with the Capital Budget of 60%, I therefore encourage every able bodied Youths to strategically position themselves for the massive direct and indirect positive multipliers effect that will come with this unleashing of economic gains in Enugu State. Finally, it is pertinent to state that in keeping with His Excellency’s commitment to Rural Development, Agricultural Development Urban Renewal and expansion; it is obvious that these key strategic focus are MUTUALLY REINFORCING as well as being key drivers of other multisectoral developments.
Even though we shall continue to engage our minds further on inimitable attributes of this administration, it is convenient for us to admit that His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Dr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi is leading a Fiscal Responsibility Regime.
To be continued!!!
