The stories of disparity between budget and its implementation in Nigerian public sector are replete in newspapers, public discourses and academic journals. Reasons advanced for this include: corruption, fluctuating oil revenue, unstable economic parameters and poor budget monitoring. The main thrust of this paper was to examine the behavioural aspect of budget implementation disparity. Two hypotheses were set forth and tested using two ministries namely: education and finance in the Ekiti State of Nigeria. Thirty high ranking staff involved in budget preparation and implementation out of thirty-five administered with questionnaires responded to time. Using the students t-test, the first hypothesis (budget implementation are not always achieved in the ministries)it was discovered with t-cal. (12.31) greater than t-tab (1.679) the two ministries always meet budget. The second hypothesis (ministries have no adequate measures to address budget variances), with t-cal. (6.89) greater than t-tab (1.699), the two ministries have adequate measures to curb budget variances. It can be concluded that reasons for budget implementation disparity can be explained outside those factors. The paper concludes by making recommendations to solve implementation disparity in government departments.

The stories of disparity between budget and its implementation in Nigerian public sector are replete in newspapers, public discourses and academic journals. Reasons advanced for this include: corruption, fluctuating oil revenue, unstable economic parameters and poor budget monitoring. The main th...