2023 Budget to be Presented in September

The 2023 appropriation is anticipated to be presented to the National Assembly in September, barring any changes.

Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze, revealed this during a training session on creating a budget using the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System on Monday in Abuja

.A two-day nationwide training on budget preparation is organised for over four thousand budget officers drawn from about nine hundred ministries, departments and agencies of the government.

Akabueze, who was represented by the Director of Expenditure (Socials) in the Budget Office, Mr Fabian Ogbu, stated that as part of its Public Financial Management (PFM) reforms, the federal government under Buhari is determined to ensure consistent and prompt preparation, submission, and approval of annual budgets.

However, Akabueze lamented the fact that MDAs do not thoroughly read the Budget Call Circular and, as a result, make errors that would typically be prevented if they had followed the pertinent sections of the Budget Circular.

“The main goal of this training is to provide continuous learning to equip budget personnel with the requisite knowledge, skills and the tools they require to prepare and submit the 2023 budget,” he said.

“It has been observed that MDAs do not study the budget circular in detail, making mistakes that should ordinarily be avoided if they had complied with relevant sections of the budget cycle.”

The 2023 Budget Call Circular and other pertinent rules and regulations, according to him, are also being taken into consideration while the 2023 budget is being created.

To address this, Akabueze stated that one of the training courses would include important details and passages to pay attention to in the 2023 Budget Call Circular.