EMPIRICAL REVIEW OF BUDGET REFORMS PROGRAM IN NIGERIA

The public sector budget in Nigeria, as in any other nation of the world, remains the most important policy thrust instrument or tool for different purposes including: economic, political, social and developmental. The Nigeria Federal budget has been facing a myriad of challenges dispossessing it of the powers to achieve its expected goals. Those problems include institutional, social and leadership dimensions. Budget management reforms were the major areas of the Nigeria Public Service reforms embarked upon since the inception of civilian administration in 1999. The major objective was to enhance budget discipline among others. This zoas predicated on the theoretical considerations that improving the process and management of budgeting through reforms would ultimately translate into improved budgetary outcome. This paper empirically investigated the impact of budget reforms on the quality of budget management in Nigeria. It zoas therefore recommended that government should provide the leadership and political zoill not only to enforce the provisions of FRA. MTEF and other reform but to sanction those that short circuit the system to their advantage. This zoill go a long zoay to enhance compliance zoith the reforms and bring about the expected improvement in the quality of the nation's budget management. The paper concludes by making impeccable suggestions on hozo to curtail the monster before it finally ruins the budget process completely.