By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Though the 2017 budget, passed few months ago, according to some observers, was not perfect, it was an improvement from the 2016 appropriation bill, which was marred by ‘padding’ allegations.
Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Dr Joe Abah, explained that what made this year’s budget was “more credible than the previous ones” was because of the linking of the pricelist held by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) with the budgeting template.”
Dr Abah, who spoke on Reforming The Public Service of Nigeria on Frankly Speaking a radio programme of WE FM in Abuja recently, noted that the issue of budget padding was not so pronounced in the 2017 budget as was the case with the 2016 and hopes that with the checks in place, the 2018 budget will be better than as the issue of padding will no longer rear its ugly head.
He further disclosed that the passage of the new budget law with the National Assembly will ensure that budgets are passed as at when due as legal timeframes will be set as to when the Executive is to submit and when the National Assembly is to appropriate.
Furthermore, he talked about the Self-Assessment Tool (SAT) which was developed by the Bureau to enable Agencies assess themselves against global best practices in a non-threatening way. He also said that SAT had been piloted in some agencies and that it is fully developed and ready to be deployed.
When asked to describe the bureau, he said it is a think-tank of government that ensures that government does its job better and coordinates reform efforts across government agencies to ensure they do not overlap.
On the issue of what will he would like to be remembered for, Dr Abah, whose tenure will be ending this August, said he wished to be remembered as someone who tried his best to show that it can be done.
Adedapo Adesanya