CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

 For the past ages, man as a rational and divine animal has been struggling with the procurement of reasonable standard of living and the ways of managing his expected maximum utility (profit).  The eventful development of a well-organized society gave birth to the order of the day; government had the right to interfere with the economic process to protect the interest of the nation.  In fact it was the Budget preparation and implementation on accountability of Tekunbo M. B (2006) that have contributed to the trends which led to economic planning and budgeting as a tool in political administration.

          In Nigeria so many budgets have been pronounced and many of them are policies.  All these budgets and policies are made to Nigerians standard of living which is presently nothing to talk about.  The primary socio-economic crisis facing the nation as thing that are auxiliaries to the good problems facing Nigeria is that the policy and implementation of these budgetary plans have always fallen short of a set standard.

          According to Olabode M. A (2005) Budgeting could be described as the annual statement of income and expenditure at the National, State or Local Government levels.  It is also serving as a tool for accountability and control government finance, tools for planning and management and for economic policy prescriptions.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

          There are so many problems which affect accountability and Budget implementation in Nigeria.

          Inspite, other related problems of this study are those caused by improper execution of budgetary plans and poor accounting of government fund.  This is based that all plans are always initiated by the problem of implementation.

          A part from, incompletion and abandon cut in the economic sector.  Also the frustration in trying to identify suitable projects and carry them out successfully to a final stage of completion are seen as a major stumbling block to plan implementation and development in Enugu State.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The overall objectives of this study are:

       To examine some of the budget made in Nigeria with reference to Enugu State and find out how budgetary plans implemented affected the state and the nation as a whole.

       To examine accountability, which has eaten the economic heart of this nation?

       To ascertain for a management policy and system that can organize and the economy of this nation.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study is set out to find answers to the following questions.

       To what extent has budgeting help the state government in maximizing their resources.

       To what extent has budgeting helped the government in achieving its objectives?

       In what ways does government adopt accountability and budget implementation in measurement and control of performance of units?

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

1.  Ho: Budgeting does not help the state government in maximizing their resources.

     Hi:  Budgeting help the state government in maximizing their resources.

2.  Ho: Government do not consider budget implementation necessary in discharging their duties or in their operations.

3.  Ho: Budgetary plans if well and effectively implemented cannot help in the restructuring of the economy.

     Hi:  Budgetary plans if well and effectively implemented could help in the restructuring of the economy.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

          The study covers areas relating to accountability and budget implementation in Nigeria (Department of Budget and Planning Enugu State) in relation to maintaining proper accountability in areas relating to projects execution. These contents of the budgets for at least two years.

1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

          The significance of this study can be waved into two major aspects, practical and Academics,

Practical significance

Particularly, this research will be of benefit in broading the understanding of the following people:

       Ministry of finance:  It will certainly determine whether budgetary plans if well and effectively implemented could help in restructuring of the economy.

       Students:  This research will enable students who intend to study the course in future to make use of this work both in their academics and research programs (Reference Purposes).

       Accountants: This research will also help to solve some of the problems encountered by the accountants since this work will be kept in the library for reference purposes.