Lagos State commences Medium Term Sector Strategy (MTSS) Planning Process

The 2011-2013 Medium Term Sector Strategy (MTSS) planning process has commenced in Lagos State with a series of workshops linking the Annual Implementation Work Plans with the MTSS. The process is geared towards reforming the procedures involved in budget preparation and planning. It is positioned to familiarise the state government with activity- based budget development against programme- based processes.

The purpose of activity-based budgeting is to ensure that budgetary allocations are consistent with strategic priorities. Consolidated activity-based budget is drafted from the activities presented in the Departmental Work plans. Meetings were organised to ensure that all MDAs’ departmental work plans were duly completed taking bearing from the MTSS using ESSPIN approved template.

The first workshop took place in May with participants drawn from Ministry of education, the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and the six Education Districts in Lagos to finalise and adopt departmental work plans for the Ministry of Education. It served as a preparatory meeting for the MTSS process which began in the second week of June 2010. It also provided a forum for:

• Clarification of roles and responsibilities within the organisational structures of the MDAs;
• Development of a generic work plan by the Education Districts for inclusion in the 2011 MTSS;
• alignment of the work plans with activities in the approved 2010 budget; and
• Streamlining activities across the MDAs for all departments in the Ministry of Education, SUBEB and Education Districts.

In June, 2010 the MTSS Planning meetings took place where policy makers from the education sector were in attendance. The meeting provided a platform for the adoption of the previously developed departmental workplans; and looked at how the MTSS will fit into the programme-based budget proposed by the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budgeting (MEPB).

In the later part of June, 2010 the MTSS programming and costing workshop was organised by the Ministry of Economic Planning & Budget (MEPB) in conjunction with State Partnership for Accountability, Responsiveness and Capability (SPARC). The purpose of the workshop was to expose participants to the rudiments of preparing a Programme- Based Budget (PBB). The PBB will inform the Lagos state government on what has been expended on each programme.