In order to facilitate the realization of the Governments commitments to inclusive growth, all of the sectors require some guidance in terms of promoting equity and opportunity for as many Nigerians as possible, especially the most marginalized. One of the ways to accomplish this is if Ministry of Budget and Planning adopts a generic indicators framework on gender responsive budgeting as part of the budget preparation guidelines issues at the start of the process. The framework contained in section 5 of this document could be adopted for this purpose. Also, the legislative arm of government can play a major role in terms of addressing the above issues during the budget defense process and also during the exercise of their budget oversight functions. The budget defense process in particular presents an opportunity for legislators to request revisions in sector budgets. Legislative committees can request sectors to adopt quotas for women and girls, in the implementation of programmes that do not have a gender focus. Sector compliance in this regard can be assesses during field oversight visits. Committees can also demand accountability from sectors when it comes to generating and disaggregating data as part of sector M & E processes.
