From Emmanuel Iyoho
ABUJA
Ahead of President Muhammadu Buhari’s presentation of the 2023 appropriation bill to the National Assembly in September, the Budget Office of the Federation says it is determined to ensure consistent and timely preparation, submission and approval of annual budgets as part of its Public Financial Management (PFM) reforms.
The director general, Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at a training programme on budget preparation using the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System.
Akabueze, who was represented by the director, Expenditure (Socials) in the Budget Office, Mr Fabian Ogbu, said that the MDAs did not study the Budget Call Circular in detail and as such made mistakes that should ordinarily be avoided if they had complied with the relevant sections of the Budget Circular.
According to him, the main goal of the training was to provide continuous learning to equip budget personnel withrequisite knowledge, skills and the tools they require to prepare and submit the 2023 budget.
“It has been observed that MDAs do not study the budget circular in detail, as such make mistakes that should ordinarily be avoided if they had complied with relevant sections of the budget cycle,” he said.
He said the 2023 budget was also being prepared in tandem with extant federal government policies and guidelines as articulated in the 2023 Budget Call Circular and other relevant laws and regulations.
To address this, Akabueze said one of the modules at the training would address key items and sections to note in the 2023 Budget Call Circular.
Midweek Pioneer reports that the two-day nationwide training on budget preparation is organised for over 4,000budget officers drawn from about 900 Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the government.
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