Adapting gender budgeting support framework in Nigeria : policy issues and options

Abstract

Gender relevance in national planning and development cannot be overemphasized. In Nigeria, women are responsible for about 50% of the labour force in Agriculture and over 70% of the nation's food supply, yet their contributions to the economy are rarely acknowledged. Studies indicate that there is need for governments at national level to make efforts to systematically review how women benefit from public sector expenditure and adjust budgets to ensure equality of access especially in rural areas. This paper therefore attempts to examine policy issues and options needed to adapt a comprehensive easy accounting system for gender budgeting framework to measure implementation of national budgets for national development agenda. Being a perspective paper, various approaches of mainstreaming gender issues, where they exist; into national development programmes were reviewed. In order to properly direct national resources to the achievement of equity and gender specific programme in the country, the process of 'engendering budget' or gender mainstreaming was employed. Preliminary findings indicate that despite the involvement of Nigeria in four international conventions, Nigeria is yet to adequately mainstream issues of gender into her national budgeting framework. It was also observed that challenges of adapting an easy accounting framework is more of a political will of those in government and the implementing agencies involved. The paper concludes that further studies need to be initiated and advocacy groups have to enlighten policy makers of the relevance of allowing easy to measure accounting framework to track implementation and / or lapses of yearly budgetary provisions viewed with gender perspective.