Journal of Economics and Development Studies

Impact Assessment of Public Budget Indicators on the Nigerian Poor
Asimiyu Gbolagade Abiola, Saidi Atanda Mustapha

Abstract
In Nigeria, presentation and approval of national budget has been a major news for all and sundry. Most activities are planned alongside with the approval of the budget which shows the over-reliance of all tiers of governments on this annual ritual. Therefore, citizens expected that larger size of budget and its appropriate allocation to pro-poor sectors could reduce poverty level. Nevertheless, controversy abounds on whether public budget really drives poverty reduction in Nigeria. Going by this argument, this study examines the impact of public budget indicators such as federally collected government revenue and aggregate expenditure on the poverty incidence using the time series econometric modelling and techniques. The results show that federally government collected revenue and aggregate expenditure increase poverty incidence in Nigeria. This could be due to over-reliance of the economy on one point source of revenue – oil revenue, high level of corruption and poor public budget process and implementation. Of all these, the study recommends among others, budget restructuring and people based budgeting so as to reflect the needs and preferences of Nigerians.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jeds.v3n3a7