Notes on Comparative Public Administration

IMPERATIVES FOR COMPARATIVE STUDY

EVERYDAY EXPERIENCES

You go out everyday either to your school or  workplace, market, church,  mosque, travel to other  cities, tourist centres or  to other countries  to find  out that we are meeting people with familiar looks.  We also find out that in  our  daily contacts, we evaluate some  people  as  either  beautiful or  ugly,  good or  bad, hostile or friendly, tall or  short, fat or  thin. We also compare  non-human objects.  Some houses are just simply beautiful and attractive  while others are adjudged as unfascinating and inhabitable.

While   you   do   all   these,   we   are   directly   or   indirectly   engaging   in  comparative analysis.  To compare, identify similarities and differences by  us are  part of the in-built nature of man.  Comparison, is therefore, a daily  affair  in our contracts and observation with people and objects.

Public Administration Theory

Public Administration Theory recently has been divided into three branches. The three branches are, Classical Public Administration Theory, New Public Management Theory and Postmodern Public Administration Theory. Each of these three branches study Public Administration from a different perspective. These types of theories are some of the ways which an administrator can understand and exercise their duties as a public administrator.

Classical Public Administration Theory

Classical Public Administration is often associated with Woodrow Wilson and Max Weber. In the United States, Woodrow Wilson is known as 'The Father of Public Administration' , having written "The Study of Administration" in 1887, in which he argued that a bureaucracy should be run like a business. Wilson promoted ideas like merit-based promotions, professionalization, and a non-political system. Sympathy can lead to downfall in an administration, means there should be pragmatism in bureaucracy.

Often considered the best way for organizing public sector work, it was used highly in the western world in the 19th and early 20th century. A differing proponent between America and Europe is the transferring of effective management methods between large private and public organizations. The first effective theory in America was Scientific Theory coined by Frederick W. Taylor in 1911. His work "Principles and Methods of Scientific Management" was used to implement ideas that would increase the efficiency of American government. Taylor's ideas of standardizing work, systematic control, and a hierarchical organization were perfect fits for the public sector of the 1940s.

New Public Management Theory

New Public Management is a body of theory that interprets recent developments in public administration. Many scholars argue persuasively that scholars should pay more attention to New Public management as a theory than as a fad. New public management is part and parcel of the massive intrusion of free market values into public space, which threatens to drive out political values altogether. It is worth noting that, in this sense, new public management is the radical opposite of the notion of migrating political values into "private" space in the interest of further democratizing society. However, new public management theory fails to addresses political questions in a meaningful way. This theory looks at public administration from its roots of capitalism, and goes on through the perspective of global capitalism. Intentional or not, new public management has served the interests of elites, particularly corporate elites, has degraded the ability of governments to address the public interest, and has served as a vehicle for elevating the apolitical governance of free trade and other supranational organizations, which have fully embraced the political philosophy of economic rationalism and new managerialism.

Postmodern Public Administration Theory

Post-modern public administration is referring to the inner workings of nearly every government entity in existence.   The idea of public administration is broad enough to encompass all government positions that affect the public. Members of public administration come in different forms and quantities.

The founding father of postmodern public administration is commonly referred to as Woodrow Wilson, while many can find his roots of inspiration from the works of Friedrich Nietzsche. Using Woodrow Wilson as a reference point, it can be shown that in his essay The Study of Administration, is it “traditionally accepted that with his study, Wilson applied positivist principles to public administration…based on the belief that social reality would be objectively known with the separation of positivist traditional values from facts.”

Postmodern Public Administration is linked to the capitalist model of the late 20th and 21st century. It relates to globalization, consumerism, and the fragmentation of authority and state. The concepts of science and reason are de-centered and viewed as the defining truths. It tends to negate any faith based actions.

Public Administration in Nigeria

Administration in Traditional Society

Public administration existed in traditional society in Nigeria although in a limited scope. Goals were identified, human and material resources were allocated, and policy objectives were pursued. The function of administration then were simple, e.g. the declaration of wars (especially inter-tribal wars); the taking and implementing of decisions on the migration and resettlement of tribesmen; the coordination of hunting and pastoral activities; the construction of shrines, palaces and communal wells; the exaction and collection of tributes; the construction of fortresses and embankments; the maintenance of public order; and the settlement of family and other disputes (Balogun, 1983).

According to Balogun (1983) except in societies wholly governed by Islamic religious and political doctrine, in no other society in Nigeria did emerge a coherent philosophy of government and public administration. There were forces that shape traditional public administration and give it a distinctive character of its own. Balogun identified at least five such forces.

Let us examine them one after the other.

The Ritualistic Feature

Ritualistic feature may be found in a society where the rationalist or empiricist tradition in science governs behavior, decisions, even in a situation of uncertainty, will tend to be based on formal, deductive reasoning or on observed facts. Where religion and rituals colour a people’s view of the world, decisions are likely to be left in the hands of supernatural agents. This was the case in many traditional societies of Nigeria. Thus a decision concerning guilt or innocence, at a time when the facts are not clear, is left to an oracle, a powerful spirit. At another time, a decision may be left in abeyance in the hope that some ancestral or other spirits will exact the necessary retribution.

The role of ceremonies and rituals in traditional systems of cooperative action is reflected in matters pertaining to the investiture and coronation of important traditional rulers. When a ruler departs to join his ancestors, this event is marked by sacrifices of various kinds and by incantations aimed at propitiating the departed soul and the ancestral spirits. The same process of offering sacrifices and reciting incantations is repeated when a new ruler is about to ascend the throne, the idea being to ensure a joyous and trouble free reign. If on assumption of office, a disaster looms on the horizon, the ruler and his subjects have an obligation to carry out necessary ceremonies and offer whatever sacrifices are prescribed by the priests. If, in spite of all these, a calamity actually befalls the society, the ritualistic process is either repeated or speeded up, or the ‘good fortune’ of the ruler is called into question. More often than not, what tend to come up for review in the event of a persistent wave of disaster are the adequacy of the offerings and/or the comprehensiveness of the ritual.

The ritualistic orientation may not be appropriate to the needs and challenges of a technological age, but it certainly served the purposes of traditional societies. Thus by ‘canonising’ certain social customs, mores and beliefs, and by making these collective values part of the traditional man’s personality, the rituals sustained traditional authority and held together what would have been anarchic societies (Balogun, 1983:60).

The Existential-Terrestrial Pull

Existential-terrestrial pull traditional society is the one in which both terrestrial and extra-terrestrial forces collide.  The point made above under the ritualistic feature that if sacrifices were offered to inanimate objects it is because they had material impact on the lives of the people concerned. This means that structures and institutions exist in traditional societies to perform particular functions and fulfill certain obligations. Such obligations and functions might be simple, and might not involve bringing about radical social change. All the same, the obligations had to be fulfilled and the functions performed, otherwise the legitimacy of traditional governmental institutions would be challenged.

The Moralistic Orientation

Moralistic orientation behavior in the traditional society is scarcely classified as ‘rational’ or ‘irrational’. These two terms are alien to the moralistic spirit of the traditional society. The guide to behavior in the society is frequently laid down by religious injunctions and superstitious beliefs. Any behavior that conforms to the socially accepted norms is ‘pious’ and ‘godly’ while deviant behavior is not simply heretical but ‘sinful’ in view of the fact that ‘sinful’ behavior makes the gods ‘angry’, society is not likely to compromise with the sinners, but is in fact prone to prescribe the stiffest punishment.

The Consanguinity Factor

Consanguinity factor in traditional society, kinship (or relationship based on descent, filiations and marriage) plays a vital role in structuring patterns of interpersonal behavior. It serves as an important agent of social control and provides a basis for leadership. Consequently, instead of secondary organisations based on the criteria of ‘achievement’ ‘universalism’ and ‘collectivity orientation’, the traditional society tackles the problems confronting it with the aid of primary organisations based on ‘astrictive’ particularistic’ and ‘sectional’ criteria. While there are few ‘craft associations’ which specialise in certain occupational areas (e.g. age-grades, secret societies, herbalist associations), the organisation of economic activities in the traditional society is most frequently based on the principle of division of labour according to sex, and according to kinship and blood ties.

The Autocratic Tendencies

An autocratic tendency is the definition of areas of authority and responsibility impose checks and balances within organisations, and therefore helps in structuring the behavior of members. Where the sphere of influence is not clearly defined, only the position-holder’s good sense and the occasional challenge to his authority will prevent him from taking autocratic and arbitrary decisions (Balogun, 1983).

Balogun concludes that, the authoritarian tendencies in traditional public administration have a direct bearing on the organisation and functioning of the public service in Nigeria today.

3.2  Development of Modern Nigerian Civil Service

The Nigerian civil service has its remote origin in the amalgamation of the colony and protectorate of northern and southern Nigeria to form the colony and protectorate of Nigeria in 1914.

But before the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates in 1914 some of administration existed.

According to Maduabum (2006), the roots of the early Nigerian civil service could be traced to 1847 when J. Beecroft was appointed Consul for the Bight of Bonny and Biafra with headquarters in Fernando Po. The responsibilities of the Consul then were essentially to prosecute legitimate commercial activities and observing commercial treaties. However, by 1863, the consular jurisdiction of Beecroft and Campbell was exercised over the British subjects through the use of protection of the crown.

Below are the highlights of the evolution of administrative machinery of the Nigerian civil service:

From 1866 to 1874, the central administration for Lagos, Gold Coast, the Gambia and Sierra Leone was transferred to Freetown, Sierra Leone. • From 1874 to 1886, Lagos and colony was administered from Gold Coast. • In 1886, Moloney was appointed Governor of Lagos. • In 1889, the Niger Coast Protectorate was merged with the territories of the Royal Niger Company. • On January 1, 1900, the protectorate of southern and northern Nigeria was created. • In 1906, Lagos Colony was merged with southern Nigeria. • In 1914, Lagos colony and the southern protectorate were merged with the northern protectorate to form an amalgamated territory called Nigeria. A Governor-General, Sir Frederick Lugard, was thereafter appointed for the amalgamated territory. He was to be assisted by all European Executive Council that had been in existence since 1862 (Maduabum, 2008: 151-152).

• A single civil service was not immediately established for the entire country, rather, the northern and southern segments for the new state continued to be administered separately as before. The administration of northern and southern Nigeria were still placed under two Lieutenant-Governors, each with a secretariat and departmental organisation of its own. The only unifying force was that all the officers were colonial civil servants. It was not until the 1920s that a Nigerian civil service emerged. 

• Before 1954, there was only a single civil service in Nigeria as the country was operating a unitary system of government at that time. However, with the introduction of federal constitution in 1954, greater autonomy was conferred on the regions. On the 1st of October, 1954, three regional civil services for the northern, eastern and western regions were created in addition to the federal civil service. When the mid-western region was carved out of the western region on the 9th of August, 1963, a new civil service was also established for the newly created region (Ayeni, 2007:32).

 • The creation of twelve states in May, 1967 by the Gowon administration led to the emergence of thirteen civil services in Nigeria.

 • In 1976, more states were created by the Murtala/Obasanjo government bringing the states to nineteen states and consequently twenty civil services.

 • Twenty-one states and thirty states were created respectively in 1987 and 1991 by Babangida regime and thus leading to the emergence of twenty-two and thirty-one civil services respectively. In 1996, the Abacha regime further divided the states into thirty-six and consequently thirty-seven civil services emerged. This has lasted till date.

Ecology of the Nigerian Public Administration

 The first influence on Nigerian public administration arose from British colonialism. The British colonised Nigeria and established British public service structure and procedures in the administration of the colonial territory. This however, influenced the growth and development of public administration in Nigeria.

The colonial public administration managed the colonial territory (Nigeria) from about 1861 to 1954 when regional governments were created, and made the territory to operate federal structure. Thus, the public services of the then regional governments from 1954 to 1960, and up to 1966, were direct offshoots of the early British colonial public service administrative structure in terms of ethics or values, culture and tradition, training, procedures and spirit de corps associated with the public service (Onuoha, 1999).

Nigeria’s socio cultural conditions or the social setting made up of very many ethnic and cultural groups. And numerous languages also were influences on the growth and development of public administration in Nigeria. 

Another influence on the public administration is Nigeria’s federal structure adopted in the 1954 Lyttleton Constitution. The constitution was largely responsible for the regionally oriented development of the public service administrative structure. The federal structure enabled the creation of federal and regional services.

The civil war of 1967 to 1970 was another significant influence on public administration in Nigeria. At the end of the war the military apparently had such power and authority in the federation which could not be easily challenged by any of the constitution of the federation. That enabled the military to establish what was called a result-oriented and unified grade structure public service for the entire country through the recommendations of the 1974 Public Service Review Commission (Udoji Commission). That public service reform has continued influence on the structure and procedures of public administration in Nigeria till date.

The Civil Service

The civil service is “a complex organisation with a body of permanent officials appointed in a civil capacity to assist the political executives in the formulation, execution and implementation of government policies in ministries, departments and agencies within which specific government works are carried out… This excludes the Judiciary, Police, Armed forces, Local Government Services, research institutions and Universities. The officials whose remunerations are paid wholly out of monies voted and approved by the national assembly are called civil servants. The civil service which possesses a status of neutrality among other public service organisations within the broad canopy of the public service has as its objectives specifically to ensure:

a) The attainment of government objectives, aims and policy; b) The promotion of a better execution of the laws and programmes of the government; c) An efficient and expeditious administration of government business; d) The reduction of expenditure and improvement of economy to the fullest extent consistent with efficiency in the operation of government; and e) Increased efficiency in the implementation of government policies and programmes to the fullest extent practicable through the encouragement of specialisation of personnel and through other measures.

With the evolution of modern state and the adoption of the concept of separation of powers, the civil service emerged as an organ of the executive responsible for advising the executive on policy directions and implementation of decisions (Ayeni, 2008: 2-3).   

3.2  Characteristics of Career Civil Service

The main characteristics of the concept of career civil service are:

a) Permanence of tenure and stability of service, b) Equal opportunity of competing for government service, c) Merit to be the sole criteria of recruitment and due recognition to ability and personal efficiency in a sound promotion system d) The extent of territorial jurisdiction of public employees is fairly large. This not only enlarges their scope of activity but also improves their avenues of promotion; and e) Adequate steps are taken to provide in-service training to the civil servants to keep them in touch with the latest trends and developments in administrative theory and practice (Basu, 1994).

3.3  Composition of the Nigerian Civil Service

The Nigerian Civil Service comprises the civil service at the centre, that is, the Federal Civil Service and a civil service in each of the thirty-six states of the federation. Each of these comprises ministries and extraministerial departments or offices. The composition as compiled by the Ayida Panel in its report of 1994 is as follows:

a)    General Services and Administration (Office of the VicePresident).

b)    b) State and Local Government Affairs Office (office of the VicePresident) c) In the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation are the following:

c)     

d)    i. Cabinet Secretariat ii. Political Affairs Office iii. General Services Office iv. Special Services Office v. Economic Services Office vi. Special Duties vii. Ecological Funds Office viii. Police Affairs Office ix. National Assembly

e)     

f)     d) In the Office of Head of Service of the Federation are the following:

g)     

h)    i. Establishment and Management Services ii. Public Service Office iii. Service Welfare Office iv. Manpower Development Office

i)      

j)     e) Federal Ministries

k)     

l)     i. Ministry of Agriculture ii. Ministry of Aviation iii. Ministry of Commerce and Tourism iv. Ministry of Communication v. Ministry of Defence vi. Ministry of Education vii. Ministry of Federal Capital Territory viii. Ministry of Finance ix. Ministry of Health x. Ministry of Industry xi. Ministry of Information  xii. Ministry of Internal Affairs xiii. Ministry of Justice xiv. Ministry of Labour and Productivity xv. National Planning Commission  xvi. Ministry of Petroleum Resources xvii. Ministry of Power and Steel xviii. Ministry of Science and Technology xix. Ministry of Solid Minerals Development xx. Ministry of Transport xxi. Ministry of Water Resources and Rural Development

m)  xxii. Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development xxiii. Ministry of Works and Housing xxiv. Ministry of Youth and Sports xxv. Ministry of Culture and Tourism xxvi. Federal Civil Service Commission (Maduabum, 2008).

n)     

o)    All the offices and ministries have permanent secretaries as accounting officers. Each of them bears the overall responsibility for policy, programme and project implementation in its sector.

p)     

q)    3.4  Functional Responsibilities of the Civil Servants

r)      

s)    These functions include:

t)      

u)    i. Render professional and technical advice based on the totality of knowledge, experience available within the various ministries and departments. ii. Contribute to the effective and realistic implementation of the declared objectives, policies and programmes of government through careful analysis of the issues, identification of constraints and suggestion of the most appropriate strategies for project implementation, having regard to the available resources. iii. Contribute to the formulation of policy and carry out approved programme faithfully. iv. Give honest and impartial advice on matters of public interest without fear of being regarded as disloyal to the cause of the administration. v. Sustain the oath for public officers which requires them in essence:

v)     

w)   a. To be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria at all times; b. Not to discriminate on the basis of religion, tribe, cult, or status etc. c. To place service to the public above selfish interest; and d. To perform their official duties diligently and efficiently.

Public Service Reform

Essentially, reform connotes a deliberate and planned change. Any intervention which fails to produce fundamental change in the way the public service operates and conducts its business is not a reform. Examples of such an intervention are administrative actions. Public service is a systematic intervention aimed at improving the structure, operations, systems and procedures of the public service to enable its transformation as a multi-faceted agent of change, and as in the cases in Nigeria, as a veritable instrument of national cohesion and socioeconomic development. Reform is neither a quick fix nor a random injection of solutions. 

Reform is a sustained process that is people- focused based on the realisation that while its target is the people; its tool for achieving the desired change is also the people. Reforms involve changes in bureaucratic structures, techniques, practices, procedures and behaviours. But the changes are in relation specifically to certain goals. The key goal is often administrative improvement.

The goals may relate to four areas enumerated below:

i. Reform may be undertaken to improve administrative effectiveness in response to functions and pathologies of the bureaucracy or public criticisms; ii. Reform could also be undertaken to accommodate new ideas, values, principles, techniques and modes of behaviours; iii. Reform may be institutionalised at any point in time purposely to reorient the bureaucracy towards national goals and aspirations or in relation to changes in the political and economic environment as perceived by the government of the day. iv. Reform may also be constituted to improve personnel management principles and techniques (Ayeni, 2007).

The principles underlying the on-going reform of the public service are that:

a) The Nigerian public Service is crucial but deficient;

 b) The public service faces enormous problem and challenges in the 21st century;

c) A reformed service is key to meeting the development challenges of the 21st century;

d) Nigeria’s dream of a better future can only be realised by modernising the machinery of government- the Public service; and

 e) Reform provides the platform for applying a combination of strategies and approaches to resolve the crisis of governance and underdevelopment.

POST 1988 REFORMS

The   Babangida   regime   was   succeeded   by   the   Shonekan-led   interim  government  in  1993  but  was  shortly  toppled  by the  Abacha  regime.  The  Abacha regime had its greatest impact on the civil service by its  reversal of   the  nomenclature  of   the  director-general  back to permanent  secretary and  thereby depoliticizing the office and making it  once again permanent. The  Abubarkar  regime that succeeded the Abacha regime in 1998, the office of  secretary to government and head of service hitherto combined by one person  was  separated into two by the regime as  one secretary to government  and  two, head of  service. The two offices  are occupied by two different people.

The   secretary   to   government   is   political,   while   the   head   of   service   is   appointed from among the most senior civil servants.

In May 1999, Abubakar   regime handed  over   to  a  democratically  elected  regime headed by Olusegun Obsanjo. The regimes most impact on the civil service in the areas of enhanced remunerations and purging of the service of   “ghost” workers. The regime increased the salary package of civil servants by 45%, a development that has enhanced the economic power of many civil servants. At inception also, various seminars and conferences, particularly on corruption and accountability were organized for senior civil servants.

Since the Return to Democracy in 1999,  Civil Service Reforms: Highlights of Federal Government Reform Programmes

One major preoccupation of the present administration has been Policy Reforms aimed at improving the machinery of government and service delivery generally.

 A compelling reason for the reforms was the parlous state of the economy of the nation, and the erosion of public confidence in government

and its institutions to deliver the much expected dividends of democracy. Beside the internal pressures, there were external factors as well, especially those of NEPAD and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the urgency of attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The Reform agenda focused on:
-    Public Sector Reforms;

-    Privatization/Liberalization:

-    Governance, Transparency and Anti-Corruption;

-    Service Delivery.

The main goals are:

-    Wealth Creation;

-    Employment Generation;

-    Poverty Reduction; and

-    Value Re-orientation.

Salient features of the reforms include economic development strategies, public service reforms, pensions overhaul, national Health Insurance Scheme, Bank recapitalization, service delivery (servicom) and anti-corruption campaigns.

The underlying philosophy of the Reform is change. Indeed, change for the better for too long, has been evasive in Nigeria. Our living condition is characterized with poverty, poor service delivery, corruption, environmental degradation, etc, amidst increased oil revenue.

This paper is therefore timely as the reform measures aim to address a host of national malaise.

Listed below, are a summary of the reform measures being undertaken by the Federal Government. They have implications for both States and Local Governments. The challenges to readers include acceptance, adaptability and the resolve to turn things around for the good of all.

SUMMARY OF GOVERNMENT REFORMS

 Implementation of the Monetization Policy

The Monetization of fringe benefits of public servants and political office holders was launched by the President in June 2003, to take effect on 1st July, 2004. It was justified by the uncontrolled proliferation of perquisites of office in government over the years, costing the public treasury huge and growing sums of money. The most notable of such fringe benefits in the past were: -

Provision and maintenance of furnished residential housing (over 30,000 units in Abuja alone);

- Maintenance of fleets of motor cars for entitled officers;

- A retinue of domestic servants for certain senior officials;

- Limitless free medical services, including overseas check-ups for senior officials.

The aims of the exercise was to free government from the administrative burden and financial cost of these services and financially empower officers to provide themselves these facilities from their enhanced financial remuneration. This was to bring the system in line with the practice in other parts of the world. The Monetization Policy was given effect through the passage of an Act: the Certain Political, Public and Judicial office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, etc) Act 2003, by the National Assembly. Drawing from the Act, the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission issued a Circular spelling out the provisions, as they affect federal Civil Servants, with effect from 1st October, 2003. Under the Policy, services now monetized include residential accommodation, furniture allowance, leave grant, meal subsidy, duty tour allowance, motor vehicle loan, fueling/maintenance of official vehicles and transport allowance. Arising from the Monetization of Fringe Benefits, a total of 7,487 Government official vehicles are being disposed of through outright sale to civil servants.

The implementation of the policy has led to:

i.              more frugal use of government utilities;

ii.             Curbing of the excesses of public officers in the use of government amenities;

iii.           Equity in the receipt of government welfare benefits by civil servants;

iv. Elimination of all hidden costs of running the system;

iv.           enhancement of the remunerations of civil servants and political office holders to enable them provide themselves the perquisites now monetized;

v.             vi. Improved culture of prudence in managing resources; and vii. Opportunity for Civil Servants to own their homes.

The policy has been implemented in almost all Government Ministries, Parastatals and Agencies. In this regard, a total of 20,452 government vehicles had been disposed of across the 444 Parastatals / Agencies. Outright Purchase of Government Quarters by Sitting Tenants: One major aspect of Monetisation Policy which has excited Civil Servants is the opportunity it has provided for them to buy off from government, the houses they currently occupy. This is being done using rates that take account of only the replacement value of the housing units, discounting the cost to Civil servants, land and infrastructural facilities. Political Office Holders on the other hand are being made to bid for their own houses in the open competitive market taking into account the cost of land and infrastructural facilities. Civil Servants desirous of purchasing their houses are being assisted to approach mortgage institutions by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria which has issued to every Civil Servant a contributor’s passbook under the National Housing Fund based on their contributions over the years. Government intends to keep the Programme going through the Owner-Occupier Scheme which is currently being implemented as an incentive to retain the loyalty and commitment of serving Civil servants who may not have benefited from the current sale of government quarters and to provide a secured future for new entrants into the Service.

Implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme: The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was launched on Monday, June 6, 2005 by President Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, signaling the commencement of the scheme in both the public and organized private sectors. The primary objective of the Scheme is to ensure that all Nigerians have access to good health care services through putting in place a health care system which reduces dependence on government for funding a healthcare delivery, and of provision of health facilities. The scheme also seeks to integrate private health facilities and expertise into the nation’s healthcare system. In line with the Monetisation Policy of the Current Administration, Civil Servants are to pay 5% of their basic salaries as their contributions to the scheme which guarantees them and their dependants’ quality healthcare in their preferred primary healthcare outlets. They are at liberty to choose from a comprehensive list of available providers participating in the Scheme. To ensure effective take-off of the scheme for public servants, government provided the sum of N2.6 billion and deductions from Public Servants did not begin until January, 2007. Universal coverage of the Scheme is expected to be achieved by 2015 in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals target of 2015. Source: Journal of Professional Administration; vol8, No.1. April 2007 (pages:14-23)

Sustained Crusade against Corruption: The crusade against corruption which is personally being led by the President has yielded good dividends. Civil Servants are now more than ever before required to be more accountable and transparent in conducting government business. So far, no public officer, however highly placed, who ran foul of the law across all cadres had been spared; and this is sending the right signals not just to the Service but to the entire nation regarding the seriousness of the government in waging a relentless war against corruption and all its associated vices. Anti-corruption units have been set up in all Government Ministries with direct links to the key Anti-Corruption Agencies, namely the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Since we are also tackling corruption as a management problem which needs to be effectively managed, Permanent Secretaries and others at the top echelon of the Service are increasingly being tasked on the need to institute management systems to combat the malaise.

Overhaul of the Procurement System: Through collaboration with the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit (BMPIU) in the Presidency, the procurement system has been realigned to be more transparent with emphasis on quality management and value for money in all government transactions. Recently, in order to internalize in the Civil Service the gains recorded under the programme, a separate cadre of procurement officers was created within the Civil Service, comprising officers with the appropriate qualifications and dispositions.

Restructuring of Government Ministries, Agencies and Department (MDAs) The restructuring exercise of MDAs which commenced with the pilot Ministries has been extended service-wide. Leading the way is the Federal Ministry of Finance which has conducted its restructuring exercise, and has received approval of the Head of Service to put in place its new organizational structure. The restructuring exercise in other pilot Ministries is in progress and both the Management Services Office and the Bureau of Public Service Reforms continue to guide the efforts of other MDAs in their restructuring exercises.

Parastatals Reform: The organization of parastatals numbering 444, in terms of re-aligning their functions vis-à-vis their supervising Ministries, merging some and scrapping others, has already started. For example, investment/entrepreneurship finance organizations were merged to form the Bank of Industry and unnecessary institutions such as the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) and the Education Bank were scrapped. Recently also, six parastatals under the National Planning Commission were merged into three bodies. At the same time, the privatization of commercial- oriented parastatals, such as the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), the Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Steel Plants and other industrial projects, is proceeding according to plan. Government is aware that parastatals are the primary centres of mismanagement and waste in the public services system hence the need to reform them in a profound manner.

Capacity Building: Following the orientation workshops organized for the Directorate Cadre from 1999 through 2001 which were extended to the middle level Officers from 2002 onwards government has improved on service-wide training and capacity development through the organization of series of programmes targeted at officers across all levels and cadres. The capacity of the Service was further enhanced through additional knowledge and experiences gained from Study Tours to Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, etc, by delegations led by and comprising mainly Permanent Secretaries, the DirectorGeneral, Bureau of Public Service Reforms and other Heads of Agencies key to reform. This is in order to remodel our Service through guidance by global best practices in Public Administration obtained from interactions provided by such tours. Government is also focusing on Executive Leadership Training and Development which will be further enhanced with the take-off of the Civil Service College Abuja very soon. The Administrative Staff college of Nigeria (ASCON) and other training institutions have now been rehabilitated through improved funding to be able to deliver training programmes more competently. The Bureau of Public Service Reforms is also developing a Virtual Library through the Support of the Education Trust Fund (ETF) to serve as an intellectual storehouse for the reform programme.

ICT Development: The provision of an ICT enabled work environment in the delivery of improved services is a key issue in the reform agenda. Accordingly, work processes are increasingly being computerized through provision of computer systems to officers for their daily operations and for the enhancement of data storage and analysis, easy retrieval as well as dissemination of information. This had led to the generation of accurate and reliable information for decision making on policy issues as well as improvement of record management system. There are sustained efforts in the provision of internet and intranet linkages to harness knowledge form all sources in all Ministries and Agencies. The frame work for the realization of eGovernment is getting increased attention through the guidance of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology.

Review of the Public Service Rules, Regulations and Procedures: A review of the Civil Service Rules, and Financial Regulations was undertaken in 2000 to make them applicable to the entire Public Service. A more comprehensive review is currently being carried out by the Presidential Committee on the Review and Revision of Public Service Rules, Regulations and Procedures (PC-RPSRT) which was inaugurated by the President in February, 2005. The committee which is chaired by the Principal Secretary to the President and Permanent Secretary, State House, has as members two Ministers, one retired and six serving Permanent Secretaries, Auditor-General for the Federation, Accountant General of the Federation, Director-General, Administrative Staff college of Nigeria (ASCON) and the Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR). The Committee submitted an Interim Report in April 2005 in which it proposed Transitional Arrangements for fast tracking the Implementation of the Reform Programme, which has similarly been approved by the President. Rightsizing the Civil Service: Government is currently rightsizing the Civil Service in line with the approved criteria developed by both the PC-RPSRP and PSRIC and approved by the President. Among these criteria are the following; (a) Appointment without authorization; (b) Attainment of 60 years of age and 35 years in service; (c) Disciplinary cases involving gross misconduct; (d) Entry into cadres without mandatory skills to progress on the career ladder; (e) Failure to acquire mandatory skill to progress on the career ladder; (f) Monetized jobs or jobs contracted out e.g. about 5,500 Drivers have already been disengaged and paid off at a cost of N2.5 billion. (g) Redundancies arising from scrapping of organizations; and (h) Exceptionally bad officers adjudged unfit for continued service.

Pension Reforms: The Pensions Act of 2004 instituted a new pension scheme which is a departure from the “Pay As You Go” system to a contributory scheme. However, there is a transitional arrangement where the old pay-as-you-go system will run concurrently with the new one for 3 years. Pursuant to the Act, the National Pensions Commission was established as the Administrative Machinery for managing the process. The key feature of the Scheme is that Civil Servants contribute 7½ of their salary deducted from source while Government matches it with the same rate of 7½ counterpart contribution. The new Pension Scheme: i. provides the private sector a reliable institutional framework for staff pension or terminal benefits; ii. offers the economy a harmonized pension system, which will expand the country’s social security and allow easy mobility of labour among sectors and employers; and iii. provides the economy a veritable source of saving and capital formation.

Service Delivery The Service Delivery Programme is aimed at achieving excellence in the delivery of services to the public (citizenry) and other customers by government agencies. It is being run as a British Government Technical Assistance Programme under its Department for International Development (DFID) to the Federal Government. Its modus operandi is to reach out to MDAs to enlighten them on service delivery concepts and encourage them to undertake management innovations aimed at enhancing quality service to the public, which is backed up by obligations to be imposed by a “service charter” with the public. Some achievements have been recorded so far by way of sensitization of MDAs on the new concept and making them to develop vision and mission statements and articulated outline of objectives and functions. The appreciable effect on real service delivery to the public is expected to manifest rather gradually. Increased Collaboration with International Development Partners: In spite of government commitment to own the reform, it has not lost appreciation of the need to gain the support of International Development Partners. Consequently, government is collaborating with the World Bank and the Department for International Development (DFID) in the implementation of the World Bank assisted Economic Reform and Governance Project (ERGP). The project component includes: (a) Public Resource Management and Targeted Anti-Corruption Initiative; (b) Civil Service Administrative Reforms; (c) Strengthening Pension Management and Accountability; (d) Strengthening of Statistics and Statistical Capacity; and (e) Project management: Under the Civil Service Administrative Reform component of the ERGP, government will be seeking to achieve the following: - strengthening the Bureau of Public Service Reforms to lead and co-ordinate the system-wide reform; - designing and implementing an integrated personnel and payroll system to improve the management of human resources and reduce fraud; - consolidating the restructuring of MDAs; Source: Journal of Professional Administration; vol8, No.1. April 2007 (pages:14-23) - Carrying out diagnostic studies and dialogues on key service –wide reforms to build broader support for the process; - designing and implementing a Performance Improvement Facility to support innovative capacity building. Government is also engaging the Commonwealth Secretariat in other capacity building initiatives mainly targeted at the Directorate Cadre, and middle level officers who have the potential of emerging as future leaders in the Service.

Critical Success Factors: The experience in managing the on-going Public Service Reform programme in Nigeria indicates that the following are critical to its success:

i.              Support of the political leadership, as exemplified in President Olusegun Obasanjo’s uncommon leadership in driving the process during his tenure;

ii.             Robust leadership by the Head of the Civil Service whose commitment to reform must never be in doubt, as he sets the tone;

iii.           Clear goals and strategy which are mutually shared by all relevant stakeholders;

iv. Institutionalization of reform through the establishment of an agency for coordination and implementation, as exemplified in the creation of the Bureau of Public Service Reforms in Nigeria;

iv.           Active involvement of MDAs in the reform process, especially on issues that particularly relate to them in order to take cognizance of individual peculiarities and avoid the generation of uniform solutions to diverse problems.

v.             Timely and effective communication;

vi.           Openness to admit wrongs and take corrective steps;

vii.          An effective monitoring and evaluation process;

ix. Sustained partnership with all relevant stakeholders;

x. Commitment and greater commitment on the part of all stakeholders to make it work notwithstanding obvious difficulties; and

xi. Adequate funding of the process. Source: Journal of Professional Administration; vol8, No.1. April 2007 (pages:14-23)

CIVIL SERVICE REFORMS OR ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS IS AN EFFORT TO IMPROVE THE ADMINISTRATIVE ORGNISATION AND PRACTICES OR TO INCULCATE A DIFFERENT BEHAVIOUR IN ORDER TO INCREASE EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS OR GOVERNMENT MACHINERY.

REASONS FOR LIMITED SUCCESS OF REFORM

1. LACK OF SENSE OF OWNERSHIP BY PUBLIC SERVICES

2. AD-HOC APPROACH TO REFORM EFFORTS

3. POLITICAL COMMITMENT

4. LEADERSHIP OF THE REFORMS

5. LACK OF A PERMANENT AGENCY/FOCAL POINT FOR MANAGEMENT OF THE REFORMS

6. ABSENCE OF WINDE CONSULTATIONS WITH OTHER STAKEHOLDERS

7. LACK OF INSTITUTIONSL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN REFORMS AGENCY AND PUBLIC SECTOR TRAINING INSTITUTIONS

8. POLITICAL INSTABILITY

CHARACTERISTICS OF CIVIL SERVICE REFORMS

1. IT IS A DELIBERATE AND CONSCIOUS EFFORT.

2. MAJOR REFORMS ARE POLITICAL IN NATURE AND USUALLY SUFFER INTERNAL RESISTANCE.

3. IT CHANGES BEHAVIOUR OF ADMINISTRATORS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE WHOLE CITIZENRY.

4. IT USUALLY NEEDS TIME TO YIELD RESULTS.

Meaning of budget

The next question is: What is meant by the concept budget? The term budget is derived from an old English word Bougett which means a sack or pouch. It was a leather bag from which the British Chancellor of Exchequer extracted his papers to present to the Parliament the government‟s financial programmes for the ensuring fiscal year. From that association, it came to mean the papers themselves, especially those containing financial proposals.

Bruce: A budget is a financial statement, prepared in advance of the opening of a fiscal year, of the estimates revenues and proposed expenditures of a given organisations for the ensuring fiscal year.

Wilne: Budget is a detail of estimated revenues and expenditures – a comparative chart of revenue and expenditures – and over and above this, it is an authority and direction of the competent authority given for the collection of revenue and expenditure of public money.

Dimock; A budget is a financial plan summarizing the financial experience of the past, starting a current plan and project it over a specified period of time in future.

Munro: Budget is a plan of financial for the incoming fiscal year. This involves an itemized estimate of all revenues on the one hand and all expenditures on the other

Lynch: The one common subject in any budget discussion is money. Other subjects are important, but they are mentioned in relationship to money or are translated into money

Willoughby: The budget is something much more than a mere estimate of revenues and expenditures. It is, or should be, at once a report, an estimate and a proposal. Thus, the budget is a statement of the estimated receipts (revenue or income) and expenditure of the government in respect to a financial year. In other words, it is a financial document of the government as presented to the legislature and as sanctioned by the legislature.

Functions

The appropriate question here is: What are the functions of budgeting? These are highlighted as follows:

1.    It ensures the financial and legal accountability of the executive to the legislature.

2.    It ensures the accountability of subordinates to superiors in the administrative hierarchy

3.    It is an instrument of social and economic policy to serve the functions of allocation, distribution and stabilization.

4.    It facilitates the efficient execution of the functions and services of government.

5.    It facilitates administrative management and coordination as it unifies the various activities of the government departments into a single plan.

Principles and practices of budgeting The next appropriate question is: What are the principles of sound budgeting? Ten principles of sound budgeting which are normative or prescriptive in nature are listed as follows:

a. Budget should be on annual basis; properly and thoroughly considered and examined by parliament which is the highest legislative authority in a country.  

      b. Estimates should be on departmental basis. 

      c. Budget should be a balanced one which means the estimated expenditure should not exceed the estimated revenue. 

      d. Estimates should be on a cash basis which means the expenditure and revenue estimates of budget should be prepared on the basis of what is expected to be actually spent or received during the financial year. 

      e. One budget for all financial transactions which implies the government should incorporate all its revenues and expenditure (of all the departments) in a single budget. 

      f. Budgeting should be gross and not net which means all transactions of receipts and expenditure of the government should be fully and separately shown in the budget and not merely the resultant net position. 

       g. Estimating should be close which implies the budgetary estimates should be as exact as possible, because overestimation leads to excessive taxation and underestimating leads to ineffective execution of the budget. 

      h. Rule of lapse of the budget should be on annual basis, that is, the legislature should grant money to the executive for one financial year. If the granted money is not spent by the end of the financial year, then the balance would expire and should be returned to the treasury. This practice is known as the rule of lapse. 

       i. Revenue and capital portions should be separated which implies the current financial transactions of the government should be distinguished from the transactions of a capital nature and the two must be shown in two separate parts of the budget called the revenue budget and the capital budget. 

      j. Form of estimates should correspond to form of accounts which means the form of budgetary estimates should correspond to the form of accounts to facilitate effective financial control. 

Various forms or systems of budgeting

Six forms or systems of budgeting which have evolved over a period of time are explained below.

1. Line – item budgeting This is also called as traditional budgeting or conventional budgeting. This system of budgeting was developed in the 18th and 19th century. It emphasizes on the items of expenditure without highlighting its purpose and conceives budget in financial terms. Under this system, the amount granted by the legislature on a specific item should be spent on that item only. The objectives of this budgeting are to prevent wastage, over-spending and misuse of money granted by the legislature. This system of budgeting facilitates maximum control of public expenditure. In fact, the sole object of line-item budgeting has been the accountability of funds, that is, ensuring legality and regularity of expenditure. 

2. Performance budgeting. The system of performance budgeting (earlier called as functional budgeting or activity budgeting) originated in the USA. The term performance budget was coined by the First Hoover Commission (1949). This commission recommended the adoption of performance budgeting in the USA to make effective management approach to budgeting. Accordingly, it was introduced in 1950 by President Truman. The advantages of the performance budgeting are as follows: a. It presents more clearly, the purposes and objectives for which the funds are sought by the executive from the parliament. b. It brings out the programmes and accomplishes on financial and physical terms. c. It facilitates a better understanding and better review of the budget by the Parliament. d. It improves the formulation of budget. e. It facilitates the process of decision-making at all levels of government. f. It increases the accountability of the management. g. It provides an extra tool of management control of financial operations. h. It renders performance audit more purposeful and effective.

3. Programming budgeting Like performance budgeting, programme budgeting (also known as planning – programming – budgeting system – PPBS) also originated in the USA. It incorporates a scheme of planning in the budgeting process. Programme budgeting or PPBS emphasizes the planning aspect of budgeting for selecting the best out of a number of available programmes and for optimizing the choice in economic terms while allocating funds in the budget. It treats budgeting as an allocative process among competing claims to be conducted by using the relevant planning techniques.

4. Zero – based budgeting (ZBB) The ZBB also originated and was developed in the USA. It was created in 1969 by Peter A. Pyhrr, a manager of a private industry. It was introduced in the USA by President Jimmy Carter in 1978. Like the performance budgeting or PPBS, the ZBB is also a rational system of budgeting. Under this system, every scheme should be reviewed critically and rejustified totally from zero before being included in the budget. Thus, the ZBB involves a total reexamination of all schemes afresh instead of following the incremental approach to budgeting which begins with the estimation of the current expenditure. The basic feature of a zero – based budget is that the departments, while preparing their budgets, should not take anything for granted and, therefore, should start on a clean slate. The budget making for the ensuing year should be started from zero instead of treating the current budget as the base or the starting point. ZBB may be viewed as an operating, planning and budgeting process which requires each manager to justify his entire budget request in detail from scratch (hence the term zero – base), and shifts the burden of proof to each manager, to justify why he should spend any money at all, as well as how the job can be done better. The advantages of ZBB technique are: a. It eliminates or minimizes the low priority programmes. b. It improves the programme effectiveness dramatically. c. It makes the high impact programmes to obtain more finances. d. It reduce the tax increase e. It facilitates critical review of schemes in terms of their cost – effectiveness and cost benefits. f. It provides for quick budget adjustments during the year. g. It allocates the scarce resources rationally. h. It increases the participation of the line personnel in the preparation of budget.

5. Sunset legislation. It is a formal process of policy review for eliminating the undesired, outdated, redundant and irrelevant programmes. This system embodies the concept of self – retiring government programmes by providing for the termination of statutory authorization of programmes. This is achieved by placing time limits in government programmes in the legislative enactments themselves and providing for their automatic termination on the prescribed dates unless, affirmatively recreated by legislature after conducting a detailed review. The advantages or benefits of the sunset legislation are as follows: i. It ensures economy in government expenditure. ii. It avoids unnecessary expansion of government activities. iii. It makes the financial resources available for new programmes iv. It ensures administrative rationality by facilitating the reallocation of limited funds on a continuous basis. v. It helps in overcoming the resistance met within the executive for eliminating an ongoing programme by shifting the major responsibility for its evaluation to the legislature.

6. Top – down budgeting. The system of top – down budgeting was introduced in the USA in 1981 during the Reagan era. It is also known as target base budgeting. It has the elements of earlier systems of budgeting, that is, performance budgeting, PPBS, Management of Objectives (MBO), ZZB and Sunset Legislation.

Formulation of the budget means the preparation of the budget estimates, that is, preparing the statement of estimates of expenditure and receipt of the government in respect of each financial year. For instance, in the case of India, the financial year in India is from 1st April to 31st March, and in the case of Zimbabwe, the, financial year is from 1st January to 31st December, a calendar year.

Overally, the budget contains the following aspects:

1. Estimates of revenue and capital receipts.

2. Ways and means to raise the revenue,

3. Estimates of expenditure,

4. Details of the actual receipts and expenditure of the closing financial year and the reasons for any deficit or surplus in that year, and

5. Economic and financial policy of the coming year, that is, taxation proposals, prospects of revenue, spending programme and introduction of new schemes/projects.

Agencies involved in formulation of the budget.

 The four different organs involved in the formulation of the budget are:

a. The finance ministry: it has the overall responsibility for the formulation of the budget, and provides the required leadership and direction.

b. The administrative ministries: they have a detailed knowledge of administrative requirements

c. The planning/budget ministry/commission: it facilitates the incorporation of plan priorities in the budget. In other words, the Finance Ministry remains in close touch with the Planning Commission in order to incorporate the plan priorities in the budget.

d. The comptroller and auditor – general: he provides the accounting skills which are necessary for the formulation of the budget estimates.

Stages in formulation of the budget.

 The various stages involved in the formulation of the budget are outlined below:

a.    Preparation of estimates by the drawing and disbursing officers In September – October (5 – 6 months before the commencement of the financial year), the Finance Ministry dispatches circulars and forms to Administrative Ministry in turn pass on these forms ( in which the estimates and other requisite information have to be filled in) to their local/field officers. That is, to the disbursing officers. Each such form contains the following columns:  Actual figures of the previous year

 Sanctioned budget estimates for the current year

 Revised estimates of the current year

 Proposed estimates for the next year (with explanation for any increase or decrease)  Actual of the current year available (at the time of preparation of the estimates)  Actual for the corresponding period of the previous year.

b. Scrutiny and consolidation of estimates by the departments and ministries Head of the department, after receiving the estimates from the drawing officers, scrutinizes and consolidates them for the entire department and submits them to the Administrative Ministry The Administrative Ministry also scrutinizes the estimates in the light of its general policy and consolidates them for the whole ministry and submits them to the Finance Ministry (Budget Division of the Department of Economic Affairs).

c. Scrutiny by the finance ministry. The Finance Ministry scrutinizes the estimates received from the Administrative Ministry from the point of view of economy of expenditure and availability of revenues. Its scrutiny is nominal in case of standing charges and more exacting in case of new items of expenditure.

d. Settlement of disputes. If there is a difference of opinion between the Administrative Ministry and the Finance Ministry on the inclusion of a scheme in the budget estimates, the former can submit such estimates to the Cabinet. The decision of the Cabinet in this regard is final.

e. Consolidation by the Finance Ministry. After this, the Finance Ministry consolidates the budget estimates on the expenditure side. Based on the estimated expenditure, the Finance Ministry prepares the estimates of revenue in consultation with the Central Board of Direct Taxes and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes. It is also assisted in this regard by the Income Tax Department and central Excise and Customs Department.

f. Approval by the cabinet. The Finance Ministry places the consolidated budget before the cabinet. After the approval of the cabinet, the budget can be presented to the Parliament. It must be mentioned here that the budget is a secret document and should not be leaked out before it is presented to the Parliament.

g. Charged expenditure. The estimates of budget as finalized by the Finance Ministry for presentation to the parliament consists of two types of expenditure – the expenditure charged upon the Consolidated Fund and the expenditure made from the Consolidated Fund. The charged expenditure is non – notable by the Parliament that is, it can only be discussed by the parliament, while the other type has to be voted by the parliament. The list of the charged expenditure is as follows: i. The emoluments and allowances of the President and other expenditure relating to his office. ii. The salaries and allowances of the chairman and the deputy chairman of the council of states and the speaker and the deputy speaker of the house of people iii. The salaries, allowances and pensions of the judges of Supreme Court. iv. The pensions of the judges of high court which exercises jurisdiction in relation to any area of the country.  v. The salary, allowances and pensions of the comptroller and auditor – general. vi. The salaries, allowances and pensions of the chairman and members of the public service commission vii. The administrative expenses of the Supreme Court, the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor – General and the public service commission including the salaries, allowances and pensions of the persons serving in these offices. viii. The debt charges and other expenditure relating to the raising of loans and the service and redemption of debt. ix. Any sum required to satisfy any judgement, decree or award of any court or arbitral tribunal. x. Any other expenditure declared by the Parliament to be so charged.

Enactment of budget.

Enactment of budget means the passage or approval of the budget of the annual financial statement or the statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure of the government. This means that the government can neither collect money nor spend money without the enactment of the budget.

Generally, the budget goes through the following six stages in the parliament:

 Presentation of budget

 General discussion

 Scrutiny by departmental committees

 Voting on demands for grants

 Passing of appropriation bill

 Passing of finance bill

a. General discussion. The general discussion on budget begins a few days after its presentation. It takes place in both the houses of parliament and lasts usually for three to four days. It is a British legacy.

b. Scrutiny by departmental committees of parliament. After the general discussion on the budget is over, the houses are adjourned for about three to four weeks. During this period, the departmental standing committees of the parliament examine and discuss in detail the demands for grants of the concerned ministries and prepare reports on them. These reports are submitted to both the Houses of Parliament for consideration.  The standing committee system makes parliamentary financial control over the ministries much more detailed, close, in-depth and comprehensive.

c. Voting on demands for grants In the light of the reports of the departmental standing committee, parliament takes up voting on demands for grants. The demands are presented ministry wise. A demand becomes a grant after it has been duly voted. Disapproval of policy cut motion. It presents the economy that can be affected in the proposed expenditure. It states that the amount of the demand be reduced by a specific amount (which may be either a lump sum reduction in the demand or omission or reduction of an item in the demand).

Token cut motion. It ventilates a specific grievance which is within the sphere of responsibility of the government. It states that the amount of the demand be reduced by a certain figure. A cut motion, to be admissible, must satisfy the following conditions:

i.              It should relate to one demand only.

ii.             ii. It should be clearly expressed and should not contain arguments or defamatory statements.

iii.           It should be confined to one specific matter.

iv.           It should not make suggestions for the amendment or repeal of existing laws.

v.             It should not refer to a matter that is not primarily the concern of the central government.

vi.            It should not relate to the expenditure charged on the consolidated fund 

vii.          It should not relate to the matter that is under adjudication by a court.

viii.          It should not raise a question of privilege.

ix.           ix. It should not revive discussion on a matter on which a decision has been taken in the same session

x.              It should not relate to a trivial matter.

 The significance of a cut motion lies in two things: a. It facilitates the initiation of concentrated discussion on a specific demand; and b. It upholds the principle of responsible government by probing the activities of the government.

Passing of appropriation bill

In certain countries, the constitution states that no money shall be withdrawn from the consolidated fund except under appropriation made by law. Accordingly, an appropriation bill is introduced to provide for the appropriation out of the consolidated fund.  No such amendment can be proposed to the appropriation bill in either house of the parliament which will have the effect of varying the amount or altering the destination of any grant voted, or of varying the amount of any expenditure charged on the consolidated fund. The appropriation bill becomes the Appropriation Act after it is assented to by the President. This Act authorizes or legalizes the payments from the consolidated fund. This means that the government cannot withdraw money from the consolidated fund until the enactment of the appropriation bill. 

Passing of finance bill: The „Finance Bill‟ means the bill ordinarily introduced in each year to give effect to the financial proposals of the government for the next following financial year, and includes a bill to give effect to supplementary financial proposals for any period. It is subjected to all the conditions applicable to a Money Bill. Unlike the appropriation bill, the amendments seeking to reject or reduce a tax can be moved in the case of finance bill. The finance bill must be enacted that is passed by the parliament and assented to by the president within a certain period of time. The finance act legalizes the income side of the budget and completes the process of the enactment of the budget. Other grants include:   Supplementary grant  Additional grant  Excess grant  Vote of credit  Exceptional grant  Token grant

Execution of budget

Execution of budget means the enforcement or implementation of the budget after its enactment by the parliament. In other words, it means the implementation of the Appropriation act dealing with the expenditure and the finance act dealing with the revenue. The budget is executed by various administrative ministries/departments under the overall control and direction of the finance ministry. In other words, the overall responsibility regarding the execution of the budget lies with the finance ministry – the central financial agency of the government of India.

Expenditure part.  The financial control exercised by the finance ministry has been very tight due to the excessive concentration of financial authority in it. However, this control has been relaxed in course of time through various schemes of delegation of powers by which the administrative ministries are granted some operational freedom and flexibility in managing their expenditure. The finance ministry controls the expenditure of administrative ministries/departments in the following ways: i. Approval of policies and programmes in principle ii. Acceptance of provision in the budget estimates. iii. Sanctioning expenditure, subject to the powers which are delegated to the spending authorities that is ministries iv. Providing financial advice through the integral financial advisor. v. Reappropriation of grants that is transfer of funds from one subhead to another. vi. Internal audit system vii. Prescribing a financial code to be followed by the spending authorities. 

Decentralization and Inter-governmental relations.

Decentralization can be defined as giving some of the powers of a central government, organization, among others to smaller parts or organizations  around the country. Decentralization  is  used  to  refer   to  the  delegation   of  authority  and  managerial  responsibility of specific functions to organizations outside  the central government structure. The organizations and agencies enjoy  varying degrees of autonomy. Furthermore, decentralization is also used  to  refer  specifically to  the transfer   of  responsibility for  budgets  and  financial decisions from higher to lower levels of government. This is 

called fiscal  decentralization, which is at  the heart  of the relationship  between the central government and the sub-national government units –  commonly referred to as “Intergovernmental  relations.” (Adamolekun:  2002)

Deconcentration is the redistribution of authority and responsibility  among different level within the central government. It may take the form  of shifting of workload from central government ministry headquarters to  staff members outside of national or organizational capital.  In the other form, deconcentration is through field administration under  which   decision-taking   is   granted   to   field   staff.   Another   form   of  deconcentration is “local administration” under which subordinate levels  of government such as provincial and local government are agents of the  central government. (Abdullahi 2005:08)).

Devolution is a form of decentralization that requires the creation  of independent sub national levels of government  that are outside the  control   of   the  central   government.   Effective   devolution   implies   the  transfer  of  responsibilities  for specified local  services  to autonomous  units for example, local government units that are elected by the local  population and are granted the power to raise their own revenues and to  decide policy directions. Devolution can be defined as the act of giving power from a central  authority or government to an authority or a government in a local region. 

This involves granting autonomy to an unit. Autonomy means, on the one  hand, “the first or self government”, and on the other hand, freedom of all  kinds live:

(a) Freedom to do what one think best;

(b) Freedom to act without restraint;

(c) Freedom without fearing anything; and

(d) Freedom  to  receive  full   rights  of   self-government.  (Oyewo: 2003: 54)

Intergovernmental relations refer to the interactions between the  national   government   and the  sub-national  governments.   There  is  the  formal   constitutional   allocation   of   governmental   functions   between  federal and state governments in a federal system but such functions are  absent in a unitary system. In the unitary state it is the central government  that   determines   what   functions   to   allocate   to   the   sub-national  government.  The  central   government   can  also  decide  to  modify  the  functional allocations without consulting the lower unit. In the context of  federation, the federal and state governments are said to be “co-ordinate”  which   is   in   contrast   to   the   unitary   system   where   the   sub-national  governments are “subordinate” to the central government.

The  definition  and  meaning  of  intergovernmental   relations:  Intergovernmental relations is the term commonly used to describe the  interactions between the different levels of government within a state. 

Although the word “level” implies a contrast of higher and lower levels,  there  is  strong support  in  the literature  for   emphasizing  cooperation  among   the   levels   of   government   and  deemphasizing   the   idea   of   a  hierarchical relationship.

In   a   federal   system   like   Nigeria,   Intergovernmental   relations   are  dominated by the relationship between the central  and the major sub- national   governments,   with   the   main   features   spelled   out   in   the  constitution.  In  particular,   the  jurisdictional   powers  of  each  level   of  government  are  delineated  in  the constitution  and any  rearrangement  must  be through a constitutional  amendment  involving  both levels of  government. 

A   full   analysis   of   intergovernmental  relations   within   a   federal  administration  system   covers  federal   –  state,   federal  -   local,   federal  interstates, state – local and inter-local relations.

However,   the  central  government  in  a  unitary  state  can  unilaterally  determine   both   the   substance   and   the   style   of   intergovernmental interactions. In hybrid situations where the features of a federal system  are   combined   with   some   features   of   a   unitary   system,   functional  allocations are explicitly stated in the situations and there are limits to the  central   governments   ability  to  determine   the  substance   and  type   of  intergovernmental interactions. Such countries are said to have a quasi –

federal system and a good example is South Africa. For obvious reasons,  the arrangements  for  managing intergovernmental  relations in federal  systems are more elaborate than in the quasi-federal and unitary systems.  (Adamolekun: 2002: 60 and 61).