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Showing posts from July, 2019

N81.68bn Supplementary Budget: Matters Arising!

By YUSUF GOJE R egardless of the good intention - anything for us, without us, cannot be for us. I have been wondering if the Open Government Partnership (OGP) commitment one (Open Budget) covers supplementary budgets in Kaduna state.. The proposed supplementary budget of 81.68bn before the Kaduna State House of Assembly (KSHoA) is about 51.8% of the total 2019 approved budget of N157.45bn; which when passed will take the budget for the year to about N230bn. This is said to be from the World Bank loan approved for Kaduna state. While I have no personal issue with the loan, because it has a clause that makes it non-discretional (tied to projects) and we are ready as civil society to track its utilization; over the past three years, even with the OGP in place, we have been having supplementary budgets passed without citizen's engagement and inputs, more so, without their initial knowledge. We usually become aware of it just before or after KSHoA passes it into

'Development Partners, a blessing to my Community' - District Head

His Highness, Mr Haruna Kuye (3rd left, middle roll) flanked by the visitors and village heads T he District Head of Gidan Zaki, His Highness, Mr Haruna Kuye  has given kudos to members of the civil society, for positively touching the lives of his people, through frequent capacity building  in governance processes, thereby empowering his community in the area of tracking and monitoring government projects. "Work began sometime ago in my community and no one had information on the details of the project. I mobilized and led a small team to engage and inquire from the client and contractor the details of the project. Now we know the kilometers of the road to be constructed. I am grateful to participate in Open Government Partnership with regard to Local Government Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability engagements; without which we would not have had any idea by now on the ongoing governance reforms in Kaduna State.", he disclosed. He st

Jema'a Council boss seeks support of civil society on OGP

I n his bid to institutionalize the ongoing local government reforms in Kaduna state especially the principles of Open Government Partnership (OGP), the Chairman of Jema'a Local Government Council has solicited support of civil society in promoting transparency, accountability and improve service delivery that would impact positively on the lives of the people in his local government. Council Chairman, Hon Danjuma Peter Averik, who made this known when he paid a courtesy visit to officials of Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn(PERL/DFID) in their Kaduna office, said his visit became necessary to solicit for partnership against the backdrop of his passionate desire to engender transparency and accountability in his administration. "I am here to seek for collaboration that can help in institutionalizing key local government reforms especially the OGP and Local Government Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (LFTAS) program towards improvin

Lere agog over unprecedented people-oriented projects

Council Chairman(middle), flanked by dignitaries at the event N o fewer than 108 projects and programs in the Lere Local Government Area of Kaduna state are currently at 98% completion stages, a development citizens of the area attribute to the Council Chairman's determination and desire to put the people first, no matter whose ox is gored. Chairman of the council, Alhaji Abubakar Buba, who dropped the hint at the 2019 Quarterly Budget Performance Review town hall meeting with stakeholders in Saminaka, Kaduna state, commended the Kaduna state governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai for aggressively creating the desired environment  for societal growth - by initiating strategic and people-focused governance reforms at both state and local government levels. "Upon my assumption of office one year ago, we immediately keyed into the governance reform initiatives of the state government which were all geared towards putting the people first. We met on ground various far r