DISCUSS ON FISCAL DISCIPLINE AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR IN NIGERIA

Download This Article

Abstract

Generally, any discussion on corporate governance partly revolves around transparency and accountability and fiscal discipline. The emphasis on transparency and accountability provides the baseline for defining fiscal responsibility and the enforcement of fiscal discipline. Fiscal responsibility and fiscal discipline are political and legal constructs that promote democracy, economic growth, sustainable development and nation building in transitional economies. The near absence of these values especially during the military interregnum in Nigeria created development inertia in the process of governance and social illusions in the relationship between government and the governed. With the rebirth of democratic values in 1999, it became obvious that the context of resource governance must be changed to make way for the attainment of sustainable development through democratic ambitions. Therewith, the federal government carried out some measures of fiscal reforms with a view to stimulating the mechanics of public sector governance and institutional performance. The paper examined the extent to which these reform measures have improved the culture of resources governance within the context of the systemic challenges that confronts Nigeria. From its analysis, the paper concluded that the inherent contradiction in the implementation of fiscal responsibility reforms in Nigeria arises from the inability of Nigerians to generate good ethical relationship with the reform objectives given the antecedent of gross corruption. The paper advocated the sustained re-orientation of Nigerians as a basis for creating the ethical foundation for the promotion and enforcement of fiscal discipline in the public sector.

Keywords: Fiscal Discipline, Governance, Budget, Public Sector

How to cite this paper: Otinche, S. I. (2016). Discuss on fiscal discipline and corporate governance in the public sector in Nigeria. Corporate Ownership & Control, 13(3-3), 561-571. https://doi.org/10.22495/cocv13i3c3p14