Gender-Responsive Budgeting: FG, UN Women Push

The Federal Government and UN Women are strengthening gender-responsive budgeting in Nigeria. The effort aims to make the country’s budgeting process more responsive to the needs of women, men, girls and boys. The move was discussed at a capacity-building programme held in Abuja for senior government officials on gender-responsive planning and budgeting. The programme was organised by the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning with support from UN Women and other development partners. Gender-responsive budgeting considers the different needs of people when the government develops policies and allocates public funds. The approach can help ministries, departments and agencies identify gaps and direct resources towards programmes that address them.

FG Strengthens Gender-Responsive Budgeting for 2027

Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Deborah Odoh, said the 2027 budget guidelines include gender-responsive budgeting. She said government should apply the approach throughout the budget process, from policy development and resource allocation to implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Odoh added that UN Women and other partners supported the development of the framework. It will help government institutions identify gender-related gaps in their programmes and develop measurable targets. The training also brought together officials responsible for planning, budgeting, finance, statistics and monitoring across government institutions.

UN Women Pushes for Better Use of Public Funds

Meanwhile, Beatrice Eyong said UN Women is working with the Nigerian civil service. Eyong is the organisation’s Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS. The partnership aims to strengthen the use of gender-responsive budgeting. According to Eyong, the goal is to promote fairer development outcomes through government spending. It will also give greater attention to issues affecting women and other groups. Meanwhile, preparations for Nigeria’s 2027 budget continue. The initiative could influence how ministries and agencies identify priorities and allocate funds to programmes with gender-related objectives. Gender-responsive budgeting can have a meaningful impact when government institutions put the policy into practice. This includes funding programmes, making spending decisions and measuring results.