By Okafor, Michah Chukwuemeka
While public expenditure determines economic success, economic problems are often caused by imprudent public expenditure. The World Development Report of 1998 warns that careless public expenditure can lead to prolonged recession and place a heavy burden on the poor, [Adubi, etal, 1999]. In situations where public expenditure is not properly managed, they usually create distortions which retard, rather than promote economic growth and development. This is typically the case for Nigeria, where, despite the huge resources that accrued to the nation during the oil boom era and the tremendous increase in public expenditure during the period, there was little to account for it. For quite a long period now, as generally observed, we have witnessed a lot of wastage in public resources, with little or no transparency and accountability in public expenditure. “This points to the conclusion that the manner and style by which public expenditure is made and managed determine, to a large extent, its success or otherwise in achieving the desired growth and development objectives,” (Adubi and Obioma, 1999)