Nigeria

Yes, there is a legislation at national level.

In Nigeria, particularly in Lagos State and Abuja, the country’s capital territory, there have been substantial efforts at enshrining Participatory Budgeting, and as a matter of fact, Participatory Budgeting was formally launched by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2001 (UN-Global Campaign on Urban Governance 2002). It is aimed at acquainting citizens with new thinking in fiscal management for over a decade and to also raise general awareness of citizens in order to demand better life quality from the government.

Therefore, these new initiatives have given the citizens more opportunities to better understand their obligations towards the government, particularly in the years between 2005 and 2008. Furthermore, there is also in place a structured framework of interdependence between the executive, legislature and the judiciary pillars of the government, aimed at driving citizens in form of Participatory Budgeting through the community development associations and civil society participation in budgetary engagement and processes.

In this context, the use of budgetary structures and ‘think-tanks’ geared to state reforms as a framework to initiate a new economic order has found replication in emerging practices of public accountability. In addition, the number of people living in Lagos, the capital of Nigeria, the world’s fastest growing megacity, is growing at over 5% per year.

The massive awareness of the active civil society in Nigeria has impacted tremendously on citizens’ consciousness and interests in evolving a standard model of Participatory Budgeting mechanisms in public spheres, and this has also led to some noticeable changes in public accountability monitoring.

In line with the above, the Lagos State Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural and Social Development in Lagos state, which is the supervisory Ministry, do set aside specific portions of the annual budgetary allocation for the facilitation of the development of the rural area under the Community Development Associations.

In terms of structure, the Participatory Budgeting process is structured around the Community Development Associations (CDA), who are closer to the rural communities. This is followed by the Local Government and the Municipal/State Government. The allocation of funds to various CDAs is the prerogative of the Lagos State Government, while the actual supervision of implementation of such projects are done by both the local and the Lagos State Governments.

Through the new budgetary structures that involve the participation of the Community Development Associations (CDAs) and the civil societies, the citizens have become more determined to re-define budgetary strategies. This is perhaps more important, particularly with the growing incidence of the urbanization of poverty and the challenge of meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Budget Process is now being legislated to provisionally reinforce the structures such as the community development associations to fuel growth among the economically active but poor and disadvantaged citizenry, through the instrumentality of the budget (UN-HABITAT 2009).

No information available

The Rosario municipality model of Participatory Budgeting in Argentina compares favorably with the Nigerian situation. The Rosario municipality, just like Nigeria, implements the Participatory Budgeting model starting from the local meetings, then Participatory Budgeting committee meetings and lastly approval and implementation by the city council. The inadequacy in the Rosario model is the fact that the very important part of project monitoring is completely left out of the process. It is important to note that the Participatory Budgeting meeting level is occupied in Nigeria by the Community Development Associations (CDA)

1. PB have been suspended: 0%
2. PB continued to function normally: 100%
3. PB have undergone changes/adaptations: 0% 

No information available

In Nigeria, there are basically three tiers of government. These are the Federal/Central government, the State government and the local government.

The Participatory Budgeting Agents, which are the CDAs, are domiciled in the local governments, but the funding is directly from the state government, through the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget. It should be noted however, that the CDAs themselves are under the ministry of rural development, because the agenda is to continuously improve the living standards of the vulnerable citizens in the rural or local areas or communities, in order to reduce to the barest minimum, the rural  urban drift. At the beginning of every financial year, the CDAs general members draw up their various local needs, which are done on a priority basis. These needs are then collated, compiled and then sent to the local government for onward delivery to the Lagos State Government, which then approves and funds the needs of the local people. Sometimes, money is not given out, but experts in the different fields are sent to the local areas to effect necessary local needs.

Many local communities have benefitted in terms of electricity supply, through the provision of electricity transformers. Some communities have also benefited in the areas of road construction to and from their farmlands. Other communities have also benefited in the area of portable pipe-born water through the provision of bore-hole water provision, local food stuff markets have also been provided through the Participatory Budgeting agents.