Infrastructure Developments to alleviate Poverty in North Central Nigeria. State Government Public Financial Management and the Role of Benue State

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
1.2 State of Problem
1.3 Objectives of Study
1.4 Implication of the Study

SECTION TWO: REWIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Conceptual
2.1.1 The Concept of Public Financial Management
2.1.2. The concept of Infrastructure
2.2 Contextual Review
2.2.1 Nature of Infrastructure in Nigeria
2.2.2 Chieving Accountability in Public Financial Management in Nigeria
2.3 Empirical Studies
2.4 Theoretical Framework

SECTION THREE: ISSUES/GAPS AND OUTCOME
3.1 Issues
3.2 Gaps
3.3 Outcome

SECTION FOUR: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
4.1 Conclusion
4.2 Recommendations

REFERENCES

ABSTRACT

The paper titled “State government public financial management and the role of Benue state in infrastructure development to alleviate poverty in North central Nigeria“, sought to examine the role of state government on custody of the public financial management and the state of infrastructure in Benue state, however, the study reveal that state of Benue state in North central Nigeria experience inadequate infrastructure such as lack of proper drainage system, the street is poor and there is poor infrastructure like power supply, roads, hospitals, school etc. The findings reveals that the level of accountability is very poor in Benue state because the attributes of accessibility, comprehensiveness, relevance, quality, reliability and timely disclosure of economic, social and political information about government activities are completely non available or partially available for the citizens to assess the performance of state government Content analysis method adopted primarily by this paper for the study. Theory was adopted as an infrastructure development theory theory of long-run development based on public infrastructure as the main engine of growth. The government, in addition to investing in infrastructure, spends on health services, which in turn raise labour productivity and lower the rate of time preference. The study reveals that budget performance has positive and significant effect on state of infrastructure. In addition, it was revealed that the state of infrastructure in Benue State does not reflect the budget. The findings have implications on government officials, relevant government agencies, and the general public. The study therefore recommends that, there must be a reduction in the level of corruption, improving public sector accounting and auditing standards, legislators have obligation to champions for the state of accountability and restructure the public accounts committees and the value of money must be applied in the conduct of government business and state government should take it as an obligation to implement significant proportion of budget to improve the state of infrastructure.

SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Public financial management (PFM) the fine art of budgeting, spending, and managing public monies has undergone a “revolution” since the late 1980s. This uniquely interdisciplinary combination of economics, political science, public administration, and accounting has seen an influx of innovative ideas and reforms that have sought to address some of the perennial challenges of managing public finances. To constrain the likely temptation to increase expenditure and spend, rather than save, in times of plenty, countries have introduced fiscal rules and fiscal responsibility laws. To understand and plan for the impact of today’s policy choices on finances in the years ahead, governments have adopted medium-term budget frameworks. To help guard against over-optimistic economic and budgetary estimates, some countries have established independent fiscal councils. To shift the focus of decision making from how much money programs receive to the results they can achieve, many governments have introduced performance budgeting and management initiatives. To better understand the true state of public finances and underlying risks, some governments have sought to increase the comprehensiveness and coverage of fiscal reporting and accounting and have introduced risk management techniques. This profound wave of change in the ways public spending is managed largely started in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom and has since then passed through virtually all advanced economies, and to some extent, has also reached emerging market economies and low-income countries.

It is required that a democratic government provides good public governance rooted in quality institutions, informed and adequately motivated citizenry and good infrastructures. Good governance brings about sound financial management system. Public financial management is key in determining government’s ability to deliver public services such as infrastructures. Public financial management is about ensuring that public money is well spent and it is made to stretch as far as possible. It provides leaders and public sector mangers with information to make decisions and to know if they are using resources effectively. It also helps government in transmitting its strategy into action, and it encourages responsive and efficient public sector. The stages in achieving the aims are; planning, passing of budget, managing efficiently and reporting feedbacks.A good budgetary system is the major driver of good governance. There are six essential characteristics that have been universally accepted, on the basis of international experience, as a framework for assessing a good budgetary system. These attributes according to Abimaje (2008) are: constructive political engagement; policy clarity, consistency and affordability; predictability; transparency; comprehensiveness and accountability.

Nigeria is one of the largest producers of oil and gas but most Nigerians suffer from abject poverty and inadequate infrastructure like road network, hospitals, schools, power supply among others; perhaps because of how public resources are managed. Kizito and Aminu (2013) add that when public sending is compromised it might result to the following; ineffective oversight and scrutiny, a dysfunctional budget process, weak capital budget implementation, and flawed state finance institution. Judging from the above it appears that there are certain prevailing problems that prevent the attainment of good public governance in Nigeria, especially at the second tier of government.

The Nigerian public sector financial management which encompasses the three tiers of government is the driver of the economy but its desired impact seems to be far from pushing the economy to a higher level. This is coming at a time when Nigeria’s contemporaries have since moved ahead of it. The states exert much pressure on the economy as they control over a half of the country financial resources. It is therefore more rational to examine the quality of financial management of one of the states (Benue) as a model. Public financial management is concerned with the planning, organizing, procurement and utilization of government financial resources as well as the formulation of appropriate policies in order to achieve the aspirations of members of that society. Premchand (1999) sees public financial management as the link between the community’s aspirations with resources, and the present with future. It lies at the very heart of the operations and fiscal policy of government.

The stages of public financial management include:

Policy formulation: Policy formulation is one of the most important stages in public financial management structure. According to Premchand (1999), “the transformation of the society’s aspirations into feasible policies with well-recognized financial implications is at the heart of financial management. Issues not addressed during policy formulation tend to grow in magnitude during implementation and may frequently contribute to major reversals in the pursuit of policies or major slippages that may lead to contrary results”. Public financial management should be designed to achieve certain micro and macro economic policies. It entails a clearly defined structured and articulated system that moves to promote cost-consciousness in the use of resources. The government needs to have an estimate of revenue and expenditure to achieve the policy objective of government.

Budget formulation: The budget formulation is the step that involves the allocation of resources before the submission to the legislature for review and final approval. According to Appah (2009), in Nigeria the budget formulation involves the articulation of the fiscal, monetary, political, economic, social and welfare objectives of the government by the President; based on these, (i) the department issues policies and guidelines which form the basis of circulars to Ministries/Departments requesting for inputs and their needs for the ensuring fiscal periods; (ii) accounting officers of responsibility units are required to obtain and collate the needs of their units; and (iii) accounting officers of ministries, in this case the Permanent Secretaries, are required to collate these proposals which would be defended by unit heads before the supervising minister.

Budget structures: According to Anyanwu (1997), budget structure addresses the question of how the budget is or should be composed. In Nigeria, budgets have revenues and expenditure sides. According to Prenchard (1999), many governments have yet to put in place cash management systems, which would pave way for coordinated domestic management. The practice of limiting outlays to collected revenues has exacerbated this problem. He, further argued that there is a massive underfunding of programs and projects provided for in the budget.

Payments system: This involves the operational procedures for receiving monies for the public and for making payments to them. In Nigeria, governments make payments using a variety of procedures. These include book adjustments, issue of cheques, and payment authorities and electronic payment systems.

Government accounting and financial reporting: Government accounting and financial reporting is a very important component of the public sector financial management process in Nigeria. As Adams (2001) noted that government accounting entails the recording, communicating, summarizing, analyzing and interpreting financial statement in aggregate and in details. In the same vein, Prenchard (1999) argues that government accounts have the dual purpose of meeting internal management requirements while providing the public with a window on government operations. Government financial reports should be prepared with the objective in mind of providing full disclosure on a timely basis of all material facts relating to government financial position and operations (Achua, 2009). Financial reports on their own do not mean accountability but they are an indispensible part of accountability.

Audit: One of the fundamental aspects of public sector financial management in Nigeria is the issue of audit of government financial reports. Audit is the process carried out by suitably qualified Auditors during the accounting records and the financial statements of enterprises are subjected to examination by the independent Auditors with the main purpose of expressing an opinion in accordance with the terms of appointment. The high level of corruption in the public sector of Nigeria is basically as a result of the failure of auditing. As Prenchard (1999) puts it “many audit agencies are legally prevented from reviewing policies. Most of them cannot follow the trail of money, as they do not have the right to look into books of contractors, and autonomous agencies”. One fundamental failure of audit is the absence of value for money in the Nigerian public sector.

Legislative control: The legislature (House of Representative and Senate) in Nigeria is expected to perform this very important task of controlling and regulating the revenue and expenditure estimates in any fiscal year. It is the responsibility of the members of the National Assembly to ensure that the budget estimates are properly scrutinized to ensure accuracy, effectiveness and efficiency of government revenue and expenditure.

1.2 State of Problem

The Public financial management and state of infrastracture is a serious problem that exists in Benue State North Nigeria (Achebe, 1988; Mustafa, 2004). Maduekse (2008) found that Nigeria is in dire need of transformaiton. Nowhere in Nigeria’s public sector is the need for transformaiton more compelling than the infrastructure sector (Akinwale, 2010; Mbanefo, 20000; Olaseni and Alade, 2012). The hopes of millions of Benue rite and Nigerians in General have been dashed due to repeated failure by successive political leaderships to provide public financial management in Nigeria’s public sector, which is needed to build suitable infrastructure for the creative engagement of the citizens and generate national development (Ogwu, 2001). Good infrastructure serve as catalyst for economic growth and also provide the platform for the socio-political transformation of the nation (Akinwale, 2010; Olaseni & Alade, 2012). For over 50 years since Nigeria gained her political independence, the nation has experienced a continuous leadership problem which has culminated in poor infrastructure, resulting in the loss of trust in the leadership’s financial management of the country by the citizenry (Transparency International, 2006; Zuofa & Ochieng, 2014). Nigeria has made several attempts in the pasts at restructuring the economy and reforming public sector governance through the introduction of public service reforms (Okonjo-Iweala, 2012).

The government of Nigeria continues to implement various reforms, including fiscal responsibility and concession of key services and infrastructure to private sector operatives (Okonjo-Iweala & Osafo-Kwaato, 2007). Mustafa (2004) argued that these reforms have not yet yield the expected outcomes partly because of problems emanating from poor leadership, which has led to the low quality of life of the citizeny. The public financial management problem is more evident in the area of infrastructure devleopment, which directly affects the general socioeconomic well-being of all Nigerian (Oyedele, 2012). The importance of infrastructure developemnt in Benue state and Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. It is at the core of good governance and public welfare overall devleopment of the Nigerian economy, which in turn impacts the standard of living of all Nigerians.

1.3 Objectives of Study

1. To examined the public financial management on the level of infrastructure development in Benue state?
2. To find out the level of Benue state financial management and state of infrastructure by pasts and present leaderships in management of public finance which lead to build suitable infrastructure development for the benefit of the state?
3. To determine if Public financial management is the key in determining Benue’s state public services such as infrastructures?

1.4 Implication of the Study

Thew study will contribute more meaningful document topolicy makers and and administrator especially to the government of Benue in prudent and purposeful financial management, especially at this time of dwindling financial resources. It will assist in growing the economy in the long run. Researches in this area seem to be ignored. Therefore, this research will serve as a pointer to other researchers, politicians, senior public financial managers, accountants and students of accounting, public administration and political science. The study would help the university in managing its meager finances as well.

SECTION TWO: REWIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Conceptual

2.1.1 The Concept of Public Financial Management

Public sector financial management which is also known as public financial management (PFM) is viewed by experts in different ways. Onuorah and Appiah (2012) define public financial management to concern the planning, organizing, procurement and utilization of government funds as well as the formulation of appropriate policies in order to achieve the aspiration of the society.

Public financial management is all about the management and control of budget which states what the government intends to do in a year (NOUN, 2012). PFM deals with the judicious use of fund and also ensures financial accountability. Onuorah and Appiah Dadi et al. (2012) pointed out that to achieve a Sound Public Management System, accountabilit is required and care should be taken when designing it. Accountability in PFM should go beyond the naming and sharing of official, or the pursuit of sleaze to a search for the government to reduce the incidence of institutional recidivism. Accountability provides government the means to understand how the system may fail and finding ways for the system to succeed (Onuorah and Appiah, 2012). Rendio and Dorotinsky (2007) point out that the quality of public management is a key determinant of government effectiveness, a government where the public management is stable, it appears to be performing well. It implies that the effectiveness of the public sector is needed to maximize the efficient use of resources, create acceptable level of transparency and account in government finance, also the collection of sufficient resources from the economy in an appropriate manner along with allocating and the use these resources efficiently and effectively constitute a good financial management system. Therefore, the effectiveness and efficiency of public sector financial management, relies on financial accountability, financial control, transparency, and prudence to the society. It is important to note that public financial management encourages good governance and good governance provides the required services like infrastructure to its citizens, facilitates the attainment of budgetary goals.

Public financial management can be seen as that part of administrative function that concerns planning and controlling of public finances. Thus, the focal point of public financial management is how to efficiently and effectively utilize public resources to meet the needs of the people in an equitable manner especially towards infrastructural growth.

Stages of Public Financial Management

Onuorah and Appiah (2012) enumerated the following stages of public financial management.

(i) Policy Formulation: Policy formulation is one of the most important stages in public financial management structure. According to Premchand (1999) the transformation of the society’s aspirations into feasible policies with well-recognized financial implications is at the heart of financial management. Issues not addressed during policy formulation tend to grow in magnitude during implementation and may frequently contribute to major reversals in the pursuit of policies or major slippages that may lead to contrary results. Public financial management should be targeted towards achieving both micro and macroeconomic policies. Thus, it entails a clearly defined structured and articulated system that moves to promote cost-consciousness in the use of resources.
(ii) Budget Formulation: The budget formulation involves the allocation of resources by the executives before submission to the legislature for review and final approval. According to Appah (2009), budget formulation in Nigeria involves the articulation of the fiscal, monetary, political, economic, social and welfare objectives of the government by the President; based on (i) the department issues, policies and guidelines which form the basis of circulars to Ministries/Departments requesting for inputs and their needs for the ensuring fiscal periods; (ii) accounting officers of responsibility units are required to obtain and collate the needs of their units; and (iii) accounting officers of ministries, in this case the Permanent Secretaries, are required to collate these proposals which would be defended by unit heads before the supervising minister. Assessment of Public Financial Management and
(iii) Budget Structures: According to Anyanwu (1997), budget structure addresses the question of how the budget is or should be composed. In Nigeria, budgets have revenues and expenditure sides. According to Prenchard (1999), many governments have yet to put in place cash management systems, which would pave way for coordinated domestic management. The practice of limiting outlays to collected revenues has exacerbated this problem. He, further argued that there is a massive underfunding of programs and projects provided for in the budget.
(iv) Payments System: This involves the operational procedures for receiving monies for the public and for making payments to them. In Nigeria, governments make payments using a variety of procedures. These include book adjustments, issue of cheques, and payment authorities and electronic payment systems.
(v) Government Accounting and Financial Reporting: Government accounting and financial reporting is a very important component of the public sector financial management process in Nigeria. As Adams (2001) noted that government accounting entails the recording, communicating, summarizing, analyzing and interpreting financial statement in aggregate and in details. In the same vein, Prenchard (1999) argues that government accounts have the dual purpose of meeting internal management requirements while providing the public with a window on government operations. Government financial reports should be prepared with the objective in mind of providing full disclosure on a timely basis of all material facts relating to government financial position and operations (Achua, 2009). Financial reports on their own do not mean accountability but they are sensitive part of accountability to the public.
(vi) Audit: One of the fundamental aspects of public sector financial management in Nigeria is the issue of audit of government financial reports. Audit is the process carried out by suitably qualified Auditors during the accounting records and the financial statements of enterprises are subjected to examination by the independent Auditors with the main purpose of expressing an opinion in accordance with the terms of appointment. The high level of corruption in the public sector of Nigeria is basically as a result of the failure of auditing. As Prenchard (1999) puts it “many audit agencies are legally prevented from reviewing policies. Most of them cannot follow the trail of money, as they do not have the right to look into books of contractors, and autonomous agencies”. One fundamental failure of audit is the absence of value for money in the Nigerian public sector.
(vii) Legislative Control: The legislature (House of Representative and Senate) in Nigeria is expected to perform this very important task of controlling and regulating the revenue and expenditure estimates in any fiscal year. It is the responsibility of the members of the National Assembly to ensure that the budget estimates are properly scrutinized to ensure accuracy, effectiveness and efficiency of government revenue and expenditure.

2.1.2. The concept of Infrastructure

According to Marguerita (2020), Infrastructure is the general term for the basic physical systems of a business, region, or nation. Examples of infrastructure include transportation systems, communication networks, sewage, water, and electric systems. These systems tend to be capital intensive and high-cost investments, and are vital to a country's economic development and prosperity.

Lack of infrastructure continues to be a key obstacle to growth and development in many low-income countries. In Sub-Saharan Africa in particular, only 16 percent of roads are paved, and less than one in five Africans has access to electricity. Transport costs are the highest in the world and act as a significant constraint on trade expansion. Yoshino (2008) for instance found that poor quality of public infrastructure–measured in terms of the average numbers of days per year for which firms experience disruptions in electricity–has an adverse effect on exports in sub-Saharan Africa. In Rwanda, farmers receive only 20 percent of the price of their coffee as it is loaded onto ships in Monbasa; the other 80 percent disappear into the costs of poor roads (as well as red tape) between Rwanda and Kenya. To alleviate these constraints to growth and poverty reduction, several observers have advocated a large increase in public investment in infrastructure, in line with the “Big Push” view of Rosenstein Rodan (1943).1 A common argument for doing so is that infrastructure services have a strong growth-promoting effect through their impact on production costs, the productivity of private inputs, and the rate of return on capital–particularly when, to begin with, stocks of infrastructure assets are relatively low. More recent research, however, has emphasized that infrastructure may also affect growth indirectly through a variety of channels, most notably by affecting health outcomes. Access to clean water and sanitation helps to improve health and thereby productivity. By reducing the cost of boiling water, and reducing the need to rely on smoky traditional fuels (such as wood, crop residues, and charcoal) for cooking, access to electricity also helps to improve hygiene and health–in the latter case by reducing indoor air pollution and the incidence of respiratory illnesses.

2.2 Contextual Review

2.2.1 Nature of Infrastructure in Nigeria

Infrastructure includes public utilities such as schools, water supply, good roads, telecommunications, buildings, power supply amongst others. The state of infrastructure in Nigeria is worrisome. Nigeria has made progress in increasing the access of the school age population to education but the consequential rapid expansion and budgetary constraints are severely restraining the progress. As observed by Olufemi (2012), most infrastructures are now decayed and need repair, rehabilitation or replacement. The government of Benue State needs to repair most of the roads within the state, and provide electricity as most of the local government areas do not have electricity. In addition, there is inadequacy of water supply in the state as most of the water supply equipment are dilapidated, hence, need replacement. The state of infrastructure of any state is directly related with the quality of life. Government is the system that plans, organizes, controls and supervises the people who are resident in an area in order for all to have conducive-environment for living and a sense of belonging. Governments have the power to put in place all measures that it deem fit will make an environment beneficial for living for everybody.

According to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, the Nigerian road network is currently estimated to be 194,200km and its distribution is as follows:

a) Federal Government 17.6% (34,120km);
b) State Government 15.7% (30,500km) and
c) Local Government 66.7% (129,580km).

It must be noted, however, that even though the Federal roads network accounts for less 18% of the roads, it carries more than 70% of freight and services in the country and is responsible for 90% of the socio-economic activities in the country. The poor state of Federal roads therefore has an oversized impact on the socioeconomic development of the country. Even if it is claimed that it is only the Federal roads that are bad, they are the very roads that cause the greatest pain and frustration because they are the most heavily trafficked of all the roads in the country.

Examples of the weak state of road infrastructure abound all over the country. For example in Benue State, Makurdi to Gboko to Katsina-Ala,Gboko to Ihugh to Vandeikya and Makurdi to Aliade to Otukpo to Enugu through the road from Lagos to Badagry, in spite of being a major road carrying goods and trade to other countries along the West African coast, it is in a really terrible state of disrepair. Roads in and around Port Harcourt, despite Port Harcourt’s being the oil capital of Nigeria and West Africa, are in a terrible state of disrepair. Roads in and around Onitsha and Owerri, despite those cities being the home of local manufacturing industries in Nigeria, are notorious for their terrible state. Roads in and through Lokoja, despite being the principal routes for evacuating agricultural produce from the very fertile Middle Belt of Nigeria to the major markets and export potentials in the South of Nigeria, remain stubbornly difficult to traverse. We could go on and on with examples from all over the country.

Many reasons have contributed to the terrible state of the road infrastructure in the country. For some roads, the issue has been poor planning. Sometimes, not enough thought is given to the volume of traffic that the roads would carry. The initiation for a road project could have been a campaign promise, a complaint from communities or a sincere intention on the part of government. Planning to confirm the nature and volume of traffic the road will carry may not be done thoroughly enough before a contract is awarded for its construction. This will lead to roads that are inadequate and not fit for purpose.

To illustrate about thinking through the purpose for a road, outbound traffic from Lagos, or coming from Lagos and passing through a town, largely consists cargo, manufactured goods or products from the ports. Inbound traffic to Lagos, or passing through a town to Lagos, largely consists of agricultural produce or people and also containers going down to the ports. Traffic between the South East and Northern parts of the country largely consist of passengers or traders going from the south to the north or produce or passengers going from the north to the south.

Understanding the nature and volume of traffic that the road is serving would play a major role in planning for the kind or size of road to be built in that town on the route to Lagos or in specific routes in Lagos itself. Building a road meant for light traffic on a route that carries heavy traffic, whether in volume or weight, would quickly result in congestion and early failure of the road. It could even lead to the creation of road hazards that become a threat to road safety and possibly create conditions for criminals to capitalise on.

Still another reason for quick road infrastructure decay is poor management of the design. There are many roads and bridges that have been accused of having witches and wizards lurking along the road who would cause untold harm if not pacified with sacrifices including lives of unsuspecting road users. Many times, the real reason for the accidents on those particular stretches of roads, or even bridges, has simply been the road’s inadequate design. Some terrains are very steep or the roads may have an adverse camber. Heavy trucks or trucks that are in a poor state of maintenance commonly fail on such roads. Sometimes the trucks damage the road by creating deep ruts and uneven surfaces. Sometimes, as well, the nature of the underlying soil in the area may be weak and easily undermined. Also, an area may be susceptible to erosion or flooding or other forms of water damage which the road builders overlook. The result is that the road itself becomes a hazard to road users.

Another major reason why roads fail quickly in Nigeria is weakness in construction management. It is always astonishing how easily one can distinguish roads built by the likes of Julius Berger and the roads that are built by contractors with lower standards. It is certainly not because of the colour of the skin or the country or their origin that contractors with lower standards build roads that do not last. It is simply because they are not driven by a commitment to management excellence. Substandard materials, obsolete or inadequate equipment and extremely weak oversight or supervision all contribute to early failure of roads. All these are a result of the failure of management to adhere to high standards of excellence, a failure that is not a result of where we are born but, rather, a result of poor choices and decision making.

Another reason that has also led to the rapid decline and failure of our roads is the lack of maintenance. Many years ago, the Public Works Department in Nigeria was known for its diligence in sweeping roads and keeping streets clean. Keeping dirt off the roads, trimming the edges of roads so as to stop undergrowth from encroaching on roads and trimming trees and bushes so they do not break up road surfaces is generally much cheaper than patching a failed road or building an entirely new one. Unfortunately, the budget for maintenance of roads is usually not well funded and the fringe benefits of creating capital budgets for new roads seem more attractive to government officials who are responsible for these roads.

Keeping roads clean will also assist in spotting incipient road failures as they are about to start. Many of the pot holes and caverns on the roads started as weak spots or cracks where water would collect and where continued pounding by both heavy trucks or light vehicles would make them open up quite deep. Catching and halting the development of cracks and holes would arrest most of the decay that develops rapidly afterwards.

One final reason that contributes to the poor state of our infrastructure that we must not fail to mention is the failure of policy and regulation. There is no clear national infrastructure plan for roads. Where there is no purpose or goal, there can be no clear direction. Where there is no clear integrated roadmap, policy conflicts and inconsistencies are bound to occur.

Other infrastructure like health example the state of hospitals are poor,no facilites in our hospitals greater population of state indegene run for private hospital for medical attention.In area of education sector,the primary schools to higher institutions the state of facilities are very poor. One example is the privatisation of the ports in Apapa and the lack of alternatives for trucks that parked in the ports before the ports were privatised. After the new port owners evicted the truck drivers in order to sanitise the ports, the truck drivers have now made the roads and highways their homes. The resultant gridlock is still proving to be an intractable problem and has immeasurably increased the cost of logistics in doing business in Apapa.

Another example of a policy somersault leading to increased hardship is the metroline for Lagos. There have been many failed attempts at building a metroline for Lagos. A multim1odal transportation system is clearly required for a mega city like Lagos. Lagos is said to be the 8th fastest growing city in Africa. Today, 25% of Africans are Nigerian and an estimated 13 million of those Nigerians live in Lagos. With a population growth rate of 8%, Lagos' population is expected to double by 2050 and this would make it the 3rd largest city in the world. Unfortunately, Lagos has less infrastructure than any of the other large cities of the world. Other forms of transportation are urgently needed to take pressure off the roads of Lagos. The metroline would be a mode of transport that would achieve this but it has been bogged down till this day.

Infrastructure development in democratic governance is more challenging because of the accessibility of people to government and involves identifying the right project, carrying out feasibility and viability studies and embarking out physical development of the project (Olufemi, 2012). The challenges include finance, technology, design, and maintenance. In addition, there is a problem of succession. Most elected democratic leaders in Nigeria abandon projects that were initiated and started by their predecessors, and this contributes significantly to inadequacy of completed projects. These are not unconnected with dearth of visionary leaders, corruption, project management and monitoring.

Infrastructure development is a major determinant of achievements of democratic leaders and it is the foundation of good democratic governance. Agitation for infrastructural development is higher in democratic government than in military dictatorship or compared to developed countries. The numerous challenges of infrastructure development have not been addressed by democratic leaders. Basic infrastructure facilitates sustainable development and trade both locally and internationally. Nigeria lacks such basic infrastructure that result to economic growth and development. For example, some local government areas (especially Kurmi and Sardauna LGAs) in Benue State have enormous natural resources which generate revenue to the state, but accessibility to those areas due to bad road, lack of electricity hamper economic activities. One may begin to wonder if budget is properly done and implemented. This boils down to issue of accountability and transparency by the leade.

2.2.2 Chieving Accountability in Public Financial Management in Nigeria

1. Legislatures to champion the cause of accountability.

The legislators in Nigeria and other developing countries have the constitutional responsibility to ensure that the executive are accountable to the people for the management of public funds. But the revise is the case in Nigeria, where the legislators are part and parcel of the collapse of the system. However, for accountability to be achieved in Nigeria, legislators at all level of government must ensure that appropriate laws and over-sight functions are properly performed by them.

2. Re-orientation of Value System

One fundamental problem in Nigeria is the failure of the value system. This failure has resulted to the high level of corruption and lack of accountability by public officers. According to Adegite (2010), that corrupt tendencies pervade the strata of the Nigerian society so much so that the youths, who are supposed to be the leaders of tomorrow, are neck deep in examination malpractice, 419 and internet fraud. She recommends that for Nigeria to be among the most developed economies in 2020, and then the nation’s value system should be strengthened through the reintroduction of civics and ethics into the curricula of our educational system while a national orientation for the rebirth of our value system should be urgently initiated.

3. Management accountability framework.

Accountability law is only a part of the accountability process. A proper accountability framework would require that the government should put in place guidelines for preparing and approving work plan, method of monitoring plans, reporting performance, accumulation of portfolio of evidence on performance reporting, system of validation and oversight of performance reports, establishing and resourcing public accountability institutions, training pubic managers and guidelines for dealing with political institutions by public managers.

4. Protection of Whistleblowers

One fundamental means of achieving optimum accountability in Nigeria is the protection of the whistle blowers. An effective framework of accountability requires that those who blow the whistle should be protected against any reprisal. The government in Nigeria should establish appropriate laws to protect the whistleblowers.

5. Creating an environment of accountability

An effective framework of accountability rests, besides, formal structures, on a proper environment. It requires such things as existence of a proper code of conduct, training in ethics, appearance of equal treatment by senior managers toward all employees, and unforgiving accountability of senior officers. It also means that the oversight bodies should adopt a reasonable attitude toward public managers.

6. Adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards

The success of accountability in the public sector in Nigeria lies on the proper implementation of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards. Public sector organizations in Nigeria use the cash basis of accounting. It is very necessary that Ministries, Departments and Agencies should begin to use the accrual basis of accounting. A complete accrual basis of accounting would make public managers accountable for recording and safeguarding of public assets, managing public cash flows, and disclosing and discharging public liabilities. Adegite (2010) says that to attract foreign direct investments to Nigeria, the financial reporting processes must be aligned with international standards.

7. Public performance reporting

Public managers are in a business that affects virtually every aspect of a person’s life. People, therefore, have a right to know, how the public managers are doing their business. The legislators need to take a lead in this regard and enact necessary laws making it obligatory for all public entities to report on their performance. Public reporting on performance of departments or programs should be made mandatory.

8. Determination of the cost of doing government business

One major problem affecting the growth of public expenditure and corruption in Nigeria is the high cost of doing government business. A large number of costs in the form of use of existing assets and facilities are not recorded in the year the assets are used. The government following cash-based accounting does not have a system of charging depreciation to the government assets and allocating them to various programs and projects. Thus the true cost of doing government business remains hidden. A proper accountability framework would require that a detailed cost accounting system be introduced in government.

9. The establishment of the benchmark of efficiency

A very important problem facing public sector managers in Nigeria is the clear absence of performance benchmark. Public performance reporting requires that benchmarks of efficiency be devised for all ministries, departments and agencies. This should be done in consultation with the MDA’s themselves and should remain open for periodic review and revisions.

10. Strengthening the Public Accounts Committee

Public accounts committees play a very significant role in accountability of public officers in Nigeria. Public accounts committees should be strengthened with a system of familiarizing the members with the audit scope, approach and methods through workshops and powers to take action if their recommendations are not implemented.

11. Change in the structure of Government Accounting and Auditing

Governmental accounting system in Nigeria is grossly deficient. Financial reports are outdated and unreliable at all levels of government. Little attention is paid to financial accountability the public service. Achua (2009) posit that there is an urgent need to protect the commonwealth from poor performance and fraud, and to protect individuals from lawless, arbitrary and capricious actions by the state’s surrogate administrators. Therefore, the is an urgent need to restructure the public sector accounting system taking into consideration the frailties and flaws of governmental accounting in Nigeria. Adegite (2010) also says the rapid development and changes that have taken place in the nation’s public sector since 1958. It is urgently necessary a comprehensive revision of the entire audit laws of the country with a view to aligning them with current realities and demands of globalization.

12. Revenue and Expenditure in Nigeria

The government of Nigeria has different sources of raising revenue for carrying out the various state functions. The sources of revenue can be classified into twelve (12) namely: customs and exercise, licenses and internal revenue, direct taxes, fees, mining royalties, earnings and sales, armed forces revenue, interest and repayment (general), interest and repayment (state), reimbursements; rent on government property; statutory and non-statutory financial transfers and miscellaneous revenue (Anyanfo, 1996; Anyanwu, 1997; Adams, 2001). However, Section 149 of the 1999 Constitution as amended provides that all revenues collected by the Government of the Federation shall be paid into the Federation Account except for the proceeds of personal income taxes of the Armed forces of the federation, the Nigerian Police Force, External Affairs personnel and residents of the Federal Capital Territory.

Expenditure in Nigeria involves the all the expenses which the public sector incurs for its maintenance, for the benefit of the economy, external bodies and for the country. Public expenditure in Nigeria is usually categorized into recurrent and capital expenditure. According to Anyanfo (1996), a recurrent expenditure is made frequently or regularly. In the context of government financial management, recurrent expenditure has an economic life span of less than one year. A capital expenditure has a life span of more than one year for the purpose of acquiring or improving on a fixed asset.

2.3 Empirical Studies

Edame, and Ejue (2013) examine the budgeting role, infrastructural development and economic growth vis-a-vis the political development of Nigeria with reference to Ogoja local government area of Cross River State as the case study. Primary data were collected using questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics and chi-square. The result shows that there is a significant relationship between budgeting and infrastructural development in Nigeria. In addition, it reveals that there is a correlation between budgeting and development of sub-economic sector in Nigeria.

Emenike (2016) assess the impact of public financial management on economic development of developing countries. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and multiple regressions. It was found that public financial management does not impact significantly on economic development of Nigeria.

Saunders (1985) examine the relationship between economic growth and public expenditure of OECD countries for 1960-1981. The result shows that there is causality running in opposite direction between the variables.

Aruwa (2012) examines the association between government revenues and expenditures, expenditures and economic growth using cointegration and VAR-based error correction models on annual data ranging from 1979 – 2008. The study reveals that government expenditure is not employed as a fiscal instrument and the revenue growth drives government expenditure.

Pere and Buseni (2013) assessed the extent local government financial management impact on effective and judicious use of public financial resources in Bayelsa state. The study employed descriptive and survey designs. Among other things, the findings of the study revealed that to a slight extent public financial management in the local governments has impact on effective and judicious use of public financial resources in Bayelsa state. There is also a significant impact of financial planning and control on quality delivery of public services in local government areas of Bayelsa state; and also verified that the practice of public financial management enhance transparency and accountability in the use of public financial resources in Bayelsa state. Hence, the study concluded that local government financial management has positive impact on effective and judicious use of public financial resources in Bayelsa state.

Onuorah and Appah (2012) examine the management of public funds in terms of how public office holders give accountability report of their stewardship. The findings reveal that the level of accountability is very poor in Nigeria because the attributes of accessibility, comprehensiveness, relevance, quality, reliability and timely disclosure of economic, social and political information about government activities are completely non available or partially available for the citizens to assess the performance of public officers mostly the political office holders.

Omodero and Okafor (2016) determine the efficiency and accountability of public sector revenue and expenditure in Nigeria (1970-2014). Findings reveal that the level of accountability is very poor in Nigeria because the attributes of accessibility, comprehensiveness, relevance, quality, reliability and timely disclosure of financial information, social and political information about government activities are completely non-available or partially available for the citizens to assess the performance of public officers mostly the political office holders. The study therefore concluded that that there is a significant relationship between efficiency of public sector expenditure, recurrent expenditure and capital expenditure in Nigeria from 1970-2014. From the review, it is evident that public financial management does not have significant effect on infrastructural growth in Nigeria.

2.4 Theoretical Framework

Infrastructure development theory was adopted for this work.The propounder of this theory is Pierre Richard Agenor in 1945. Development economists have considered efficeint utilisation of financial management leads to physical infrastructure to be a precondition for industrialization and economic development. Yet, two issues remain to be addressed in the literature. First, while proper identification of the causal effectiveness of infrastructure in reducing poverty is important, experimental evaluation, such as randomized control trials (RCT)-based evaluation, is difficult in the context of large-scale infrastructure. Second, while micro studies so far have focused on the nexus between infrastructure and certain types of poverty outcomes such as income, poverty, health, education, and other individual socio-economic outcomes, to better interpret a wide variety of micro-level infrastructure evaluation results using either experimental or non-experimental methods, the role of infrastructure should be placed in a broader context. To bridge these gaps, we augment the existing review articles on the same topic, such as Estache (2010), Hansen, Andersen, and White, (2012), and World Bank (2012) by addressing these two remaining issues. First, while forming a counterfactual is often difficult for impact evaluation of infrastructure, engineering constraints beyond human manipulation can allow people to adopt quasi-experimental methods of impact evaluation. Second, evaluators can adopt, for example, a hybrid method of natural and artefactual field experiments to elicit the role of infrastructure in facilitating the complementarity of the market, state, and community mechanisms.

SECTION THREE: ISSUES/GAPS AND OUTCOME

3.1 Issues

For over 50 years sicne Nigeria gained her political independence, the nation has experienced a continuous leadership problem which has culminated in poor infrastructure, resulting in the loss of trust in the leadership’s financial management of the country by the citizenry. Nigeria has made several attempts in the past at restructuring the economy and reforming public sector governance through the introduction of public service reforms The government of Nigeria continues to implement various reforms, including fiscal responsibility and concession of key services and infrastructure to private sector operatives.Many expert in field of humanity argued that these reforms have not yet yield the expected outcomes partly because of problems emanating from poor leadership, which has led to the low quality of life of the citizeny. The state of infrastructure in Nigeria is worrisome. Nigeria has made progress in increasing the access of the school age population to education but the consequential rapid expansion and budgetary constraints are severely restraining the progress. Many analysist observed that ,most infrastructures are now decayed and need repair, rehabilitation or replacement. The government of Benue State needs to repair most of the roads within the state, and provide electricity as most of the local government areas do not have electricity.

3.2 Gaps

Infrastructure development is a major determinant of achievements of democratic leaders and it is the foundation of good democratic governance. Agitation for infrastructural development is higher in democratic government than in military dictatorship or compared to developed countries. The numerous challenges of infrastructure development have not been addressed by democratic leaders. Basic infrastructure facilitates sustainable development and trade both locally and internationally. Nigeria lacks such basic infrastructure that result to economic growth and development. For example, some local government areas (especially Kurmi and Sardauna LGAs) in Benue State have enormous natural resources which generate revenue to the state, but accessibility to those areas due to bad road, lack of electricity hamper economic activities. One may begin to wonder if budget is properly done and implemented. This boils down to issue of accountability and transparency by the leaders

3.3 Outcome

Public financial accountability provides government the means to understand how the system may fail and finding ways for the system to succeed. Some authors point out that the quality of public management is a key determinant of government effectiveness, a government where the public management is stable, it appears to be performing well. It implies that the effectiveness of the public sector is needed to maximize the efficient use of resources, create acceptable level of transparency and account in government finance, also the collection of sufficient resources from the economy in an appropriate manner along with allocating and the use these resources efficiently and effectively constitute a good financial management system. Therefore, the effectiveness and efficiency of public sector financial management, relies on financial accountability, financial control, transparency, and prudence to the society. It is important to note that public financial management encourages good governance and good governance provides the required services like infrastructure to its citizens, facilitates the attainment of budgetary goals.

Public financial management can be seen as that part of administrative function that concerns planning and controlling of public finances. Thus, the focal point of public financial management is how to efficiently and effectively utilize public resources to meet the needs of the people in an equitable manner especially towards infrastructural growth.

SECTION FOUR: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1 Conclusion

Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the state of infrastructure in Benue State does not reflect the budget. we have done a brief assessment of the current state of infrastructure in Nigeria, particularly of road infrastructure and how there is much room for improvement. I have also taken a quick look at what has been done in other countries, specifically the United States, and how this had a catalytic effect on the growth of that country’s economy. Management can be said to be about doing things right. Leadership is however about doing the right things. It is my hope that the leadership of our country will not just focus on doing things right but will focus on doing the right things This goes down to the issue of accountability. Over the years lack of accountability from democratic leaders has manifested itself in a number of ways, this includes uncompleted projects. The findings have implications on managers of public funds, elected democratic leaders, government agencies such as EFCC, ICPC, electorates, and the general public. This implies that budget implementation in Benue state is poor since there is poor state of infrastructure as revealed by many writers in the field of of rural development economics. This is not limited to physical infrastructures but recurrent expenditure (such as salaries). The study also reveals that there is no service delivery within specified costs, quality and time schedule in Benue State. This clearly indicates that contractors do not carry out their work as expected, and there is no monitoring by government officials. The contractors can decide to do a project below standard in order to earn more or to rush the work so that he can get his pay on time. It is important that as contract is awarded, public fund managers should monitor and supervise the work to get an acceptable and quality project.

4.2 Recommendations

In light of the findings, the study makes the following recommendations;

(1) Government should take it as an obligation that significant portion of budget is implemented as it will improve the nature of infrastructure in the state. There should be available evidence that budgeted resources reach spending units in a timely and transparent manner.
(2) Government should utilize all sources of revenue in order to finance budget.
(3) To improve the state of infrastructure in Benue State and abandoned projects, there should be succession in government. A project that was initiated and started by a predecessor should be completed by the successor irrespective of political party affiliation.
(4) In order to reduce the level of corruption in public fund spending, relevant government agencies such as EFCC and ICPC should do their work objectively without bias.
(5) Government should monitor and supervise contracts awarded. This will ensure timely completion and quality of projects.

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