LEGISLATURE AND BUDGET PREPARATION IN NIGERIA

UNDERSTANDING THE DILEMMA OF BUDGET PADDING IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The legislature is mainly seen as a vital institution in any democracy. This is because it plays a critical role to the survival and sustenance of a democratic political system. Beyond its primary responsibility of law making, the legislature acts as a watch-dog over government expenditure, checks other activities of government and its agencies. This study examines the role of legislature in budget preparation in Nigeria. It argued that the act of padding arising from dishonest insertion of arbitrarily fixed constituency projects, inflating projects cost and seemingly misplacement of national priority tends to hinder the legitimate responsibility of the legislature of ensuring the preparation of a realizable budget for national development. The paper further stated that the inability of the Nigerian legislature to use its oversight powers effectively for probity and accountability in all stages of budget preparation scuttles the rationale for legislative ratification of national budgets in Nigeria. We adopted documentary method of data collection and anchored our analysis on post-colonial theory of the state. The study concluded that the failure of the legislature to ostensibly insist on procedural accountability and seemingly self-centred alterations in the process of budget preparation are implicated in the perennial annual bogus budgets in Nigeria. It therefore recommended strict adherence to constitutional stipulations and other relevant acts such as Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007 to avert recurring crisis arising from budget preparation and implementation in Nigeria.