Budget Office trains MDAs staff on 2023 budget preparation

The Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning has held a two-day training for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) personnel saddled with the preparation of 2023 budget calendar using the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System – Budget Preparation Sub-System (GIFMIS/BPS).

The training, held at the Tayo Aderinokun Lecture Theatre, University of Lagos, followed the practice from the six previous annual budget cycles by the Budget Office.

This was disclosed by the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze, at the commencement of the training on Monday, August 15, 2022.

Speaking in his opening remark, Akabueze, represented by the Director of Expenditure and Economics, Mrs Modupeola Lasekan said, “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 in a timely and efficient manner.

"The budget is also intended to be in tandem with extant FGN policies and guidelines as articulated in the 2023 FGN Budget Call Circular and other relevant laws/regulations."

Mrs Modupeola Lasekan, Director of Expenditure and Economics, Budget Office of the Federation. [Pulse] Pulse Nigeria

According to Lasekan, it has been observed that MDAs do not study the Budget Call Circular in detail and as such make mistakes that should ordinarily be avoided if they had complied with the relevant sections of the Budget Circular.

To forestall a repeat of this, the Ministry introduced a module at the training which will address key items and sections to note in the 2023 FGN Budget Call Circular.

She said, “There will be a bilateral meeting after this training, to ensure an effective production of error free budget documents. For example, likelihood of duplication, the MDAs are now taking responsibility of their budget preparation unlike the former method where they pass it on to the budget office for collation.”

Also speaking at the event, the Technical Adviser to the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Dr Samuel Omenka, noted that efforts were ongoing to ensure that the budget is ready for presentation to the National Assembly by the end of September.