Prof. May Nwoye, Dean, Faculty of Management Sciences, Nile University, Nigeria, has implored the ECOWAS parliament to ensure effective formulation, monitoring and implementation of community budgeting for sub-regional development.
She made this call at the ECOWAS Parliament’s Joint Meeting of Committee on Administration, Finance and Budget, Public Accounts, Macroeconomic Policy and Economic Research in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
The event had as its main theme: “The Role of the ECOWAS Parliament in Community Budget Formulation and Monitoring.”
She spoke on the sub-theme: “Improving the Effectiveness and Efficiency of the ECOWAS Parliament in Considering and Monitoring the Community Budget.”
She urged parliamentarians to be committed to ensuring that the budget always effectively and efficiently aligned with the long-term goal of ECOWAS integration Vision 2050.
Nwoye defined a budget as a financial plan, which forced an institution to map out its goals, control expenditure and keep track of progress to make vision a reality.
The Management Science expert said that effective budget formulation, monitoring and implementation were crucial for achieving both financial stability and ensuring efficient allocation of resources.
“For me, ethical budgeting is the building block of financial management. Effective budget formulation is crucial for achieving economic stability, promoting economic growth and ensuring efficient allocation of resources”.
“We should take a collective resolve to decolonise our region through ethical budgeting that is goal-oriented, effective and efficient towards the recovery of our ecosystem.
“We must, therefore, tackle the old impediments to be able to confront new imperatives, and contribute in ensuring that Africans benefit from their resources.”
The academic noted that the sub-region was besieged with economic predicaments and was currently faced with the problem of formulating an impeccable system capable of delivering socioeconomic services to the citizenry.
She told the parliamentarians that they bringing financial management issues for discussion at the event showed how important the parliament viewed the goals and programmes of pursuing regional economic development.
Nwoye said that in order to promote ECOWAS’ economic integration vision across the region, which required humongous resources, the lawmakers must be strategic in their plan and intentional in their approach.
“The essence of this event is to encourage parliamentarians to improve on their knowledge of community budget formulation and implementation.
“The event also aims to help participants attain a better understanding on how to mitigate the challenges associated with considering and balancing the community budgets.
“The knowledge of financial management will play a pivotal role in the strategic and operational functions of most of your activities.’’
The expert also stressed the need for parliament to have a cordial working relationship with the ECOWAS Commission and the Administration and Finance Committee (AFC) in implementing the 2016 Supplementary Act.
She said that various sectors were competing for the same limited and scarce resources; hence, they were expected to negotiate for adequate allocation of funds by justifying why they wanted the money.
“ECOWAS Parliament should also facilitate collaboration and coordination among the ECOWAS institutions and relevant bodies within the community for effective and efficient budget formulation, monitoring and implementation.
“Implementing effective budget monitoring and control measures is crucial for ensuring that their budgets are accurate and that budget variances are minimised.
“By closely monitoring and controlling the budget, ECOWAS Parliament can identify potential issues and take appropriate actions to address them in a timely manner,” she said.
Nwoye urged the parliament to leverage ICT by deploying budgeting software or tools, which could greatly enhance the effectiveness of budget monitoring and control.
“These tools provide real-time visibility into budget performance, automate data collection and analysis, and generate reports and alerts to keep stakeholders informed,” she said.
She said that to ensure accountability and transparency, the parliament should create a budget oversight committee to oversee the monitoring and control process as well as applying deliberate efforts to regularly track and review budget performance.
Source: Ecowasnewsonline.com
