The Federal Government on Tuesday admitted there were errors in the 2016 Budget.
The error was admitted by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning in a statement.
It however blamed it on the adoption of the Zero-Based Budgeting System.
A statement by the Director of Information of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Charles Dafe, said while the budget, which was presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari was well structured and targeted at reviving the economy, those responsible for budgeting at the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government were still grappling with some of the technicalities used in the fiscal document.
It said the Zero-Based Budgeting System was still new to most of the agencies of the government.
It said this was a far departure from the envelope system of budget.
The statement by Dafe said: “The proposals have received general commendation. However, the details were developed using the Zero-Based Budget and is a new concept to our Budget Officers away from our traditional envelop process.
“The members of staff in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning as well as those handling budget issues in all ministries and extra-ministerial agencies are grappling to master the technicalities in the ZBB template.
“As such therefore, some errors are not unexpected in the changeover to the new ZBB approach.
“This was the reason the ministry arranged for the proposals to be placed on the website of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning to expose them to public scrutiny.
“The ministry assures the general public that it will continue to liaise with the relevant committees of the National Assembly to address any issues that have arisen, or may arise.
“Training and retraining to build capacity of the Budget Officers on the ZBB concept will be intensified in 2016.
“As we move forward, lessons are being learnt; the ministry’s experience and competency on ZBB will be improved and perfected upon.
“However, the ministry has zero tolerance for malfeasance and whenever any wrongdoing is alleged, it will be thoroughly investigated and sanctions will be applied.”
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