WELCOME REMARKS BY THE PERMANENT SECRETARY, FEDERAL MINISTRY OF HEALTH, AT THE BREAKFAST MEETING ON PEER LEARNING TO DISSEMINATE LESSONS AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF HEALTH’S BUDGET PROCESS REFORM
PROTOCOL
I am glad to welcome you all to this Breakfast Meeting Sessions on Peer Learning to disseminate lessons and achievements on the Federal Ministry of Health’s Budget Process Reform.
2. Essentially, this meeting is organized to formally inform the Honourable Minister, Honourable Minister of State for Health, the Permanent Secretary, Heads of Departments and Chief Executive Officers of our Agencies about the lessons learnt in the course of the budget process reform exercise as well as the level of achievements so far attained since the commencement of the exercise in 2017.
3. The Federal Ministry of Health’s Budget Process Reform became imperative in view of the challenges previously being experienced by the Ministry concerning inadequate funding of projects and programmes.
4. You will recall that the Ministry conducted a Budget Retreat from 27th February to 1st March, 2018 at Barcelona Hotel, Abuja under the theme ‘CREATING SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS TO FEDERAL MINISTRY OF HEALTH BUDGETING CHALLENGES’. The retreat was to develop sustainable solutions aimed at improving the budget process of the FMOH while also serving as a medium for the launch of support by R4D/HSCL and World Bank aimed at strengthening the FMoH budget process.
5. Some of the key resolutions agreed upon for implementation at that retreat included (i) Reactivation and Inauguration of the Ministerial and Departmental Planning Cells and (ii) Conduct of a Mock Budget Process to allow the reactivated planning cells to simulate and plan for budget preparation ahead of time. This process also allows for hands-on capacity development.
6. As a follow-up on the resolutions, the first Shadow Budget exercise was conducted on 23rd & 24th July, 2018 which served as a prelude to the development of the 2018 Federal Budget. Similarly, another Shadow Budget exercise was carried out for 2019 towards achieving the same objectives of the previous exercise.
7. This year’s Shadow Budget exercise is designed to achieve enhanced capacity strengthening and performance of the Planning Cell Officers on budgeting processes focusing on having a better understanding of the key strategic planning documents relevant to the Nigerian health sector. These documents include Medium Term Revenue Framework (MTRF), Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), Medium Term Sector Strategy (MTSS), Federal Government Fiscal Strategic Paper (FSP), and Economic Recovery & Growth Plan (ERGP) / Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP). Furthermore, the exercise will also cover the general knowledge of annual operational planning, its development, elements and the key steps involved in the operational planning process leaning towards implementation of the second National Strategic Health Development Plan (NSHDP II).
8. On this note, I wish to implore you to ensure absolute concentration during the sessions so that we can all acquire the necessary skills and knowledge that will enable us achieve a better and improved budget development capability.
9. Thank you.
