It is now a common knowledge that budgeting plays an invaluable role in our public institutions. However, this administrative tool has hardly been used widely by the institutions and as a result the desired transformation or change which budget would have effected in the society has not been achieved.
This short coming in using the budget to actualize organizational goals has compelled the researcher to study the role of budgeting in the management of public institutions, using ministry of works and housing, Enugu State, as a case study.
The researcher used both primary and secondary data sources. The primary data included the use of questionnaires, observation and interview. The researcher spent some time tp mingle with the staff of ministry of works and Housing Enugu whereby certain observations on the study were taken note of. In the same vein, some of the staff were interviewed so that some questions that were not properly answered in the questionnaires were cleared through the use of interviews.
The Secondary source of data collection (Literature review) enabled the researcher to read as much materials that have been written on the subject matter as possible. It enabled the research to draw the theoretical frame works research questions etc.
The research design was essentially descriptive to ease the study. Data were presented, analyzed and interpreted using simple percentages.
The analysis and procedures were manual. From the data analyzed, findings were made which included notably that ministry of works and Housing Enugu carried out routine or yearly budgeting exercise which where not fully implemented. There has been frequent administrative changes in the ministry and that had affected budgeting adversely, that the public influence budgeting in the ministry and that budget implementation is not taken seriously by the ministry. Based on the findings recommendations were accordingly made. They were that budgeting should not be a mere yearly ritual exercise devoid of seriousness and commitment, that administrators of the ministry should not be changed too often to avoid its adverse affects. Public influence on the budgeting should be encouraged and that the implementation of budgets should be given priority that budgeting principles ought to be observed by public institutions to enable the desired changes or transformation to take place
Budget is a financial programme of action designed to guide the future operations of an organization. According to Henry 1980: 206 of the many various of systems theory that have been applied to problems of public administration budgetary concepts have had the longest and most pronounced impact on the field.
According to Wildavsky (1974:4) a budget is a series of goals with price tags attached” the budget represents a way of thinking about measuring and evaluating public policy (Henry Op Cit 208).
Budget has a great impact on the behaviours of public officers in Nigeria. Olewe (1995:392) state that every January in Nigeria civil/public servants show particular kinds of interest. Form the budget they can know what benefits they are to derive from the economy and how much tax they are to pat. Budget stipulates the exchange rate at which foreign currencies.
The taxation policy of the government may lead to narrowing down the class distinction and in equalities in the society. Public institutions are controlled through the expenditure is restricted to budgetary provision. Again, budget is used as guide. It serves as a measure of performance of the public institutions (Onubogu 1997: 10)
According to Omebogu (Ibid 12) the inherent values or benefits in budgeting has not been fully drawn by our country in that the nation is still socio-economically backward. For instance the battle against poverty has not actually started our rural communities are in deplorable shape the health situation has not improved our education policy has not given us any cause to cheer the standard of living of the average Nigeria is noting to write home about to mention but a few.
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