Budget Implementation and Socio-Economic Development in Akwa Ibom State

This study examined the influence of the implementation of the annual budget on the socio-economic sector of the state with emphasis on education & health. It was observed that in most states of the federation, the factors responsible for budget failures included but were not limited to budget indiscipline, lack of accountability, inadequate oversight functions on the side of lawmakers, and untimely release of funds, amongst others. It was the objective of this study to establish how the implementation of annual budgets in Akwa Ibom State has impacted the level of secondary and primary healthcare delivery in the State as well as the educational facilities in Akwa Ibom State. To achieve the above objectives, the survey research design was employed to gather data from a large population through the instrumentality of the research questionnaire. Hard data were also obtained from the state’s budget office. To explain this study, the Elite Preference Model which is a variant of the Elite Theory was employed. The findings of this study revealed that the implementation of the budget had a significant negative relationship with secondary and primary healthcare delivery and the attainment of educational services/facilities in Akwa Ibom State. Given the above findings, it was recommended amongst others that, as a matter of policy, budget discipline should be enforced in all its three dimensions, namely, numerical discipline, timing discipline and policy discipline. It was also recommended that a target budgeting strategy should be adopted by the Akwa Ibom State government.