Open Budget: Kaduna seeks citizens' input in 2020 Budget

Following sustained campaign by concerned citizens and critical stakeholders in Kaduna state to open up the budget cycle, the Governor el-Rufa'i-led administration, during the week, engaged the representatives of the academia, community-based organizations, the civil society, women groups and individuals on state's 2020 to 2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework(MTEF) to make next year's budget budget realistic and realizable.

The event tagged 'Citizens Consultations on 2020-2022 MTEF' which was put together by the state's Planning and Budget Commission with the support of DFID-funded Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL), took a critical look at strategies to forge a people-centered budget with emphasis on transparency, openness and accountability.

Co-chair of the Open Government Partnership(OGP) in the state, Alhaji Mustapha Jumare told participants that as a sub national, Kaduna state was indeed a trail brazer in nation's quest to maintain, strengthen and sustain participatory democracy for the overall benefit and development of not only the urban poor but it would also go a long way in encouraging the ordinary man and woman in the hinterland to be part and parcel of the state's governance process.

"It's in deed commendable that the Kaduna state government is doing the needful by involving the people in the formulation, planning and implementation of its budgets, a development that is fast making Kaduna people take the government much more seriously, especially in the area of infrastructure development", Jumare remarked, recalling that the people were also carried along during the planning and formulation of the 2019 budget.

The state's Planning and Budget Commissioner, expressed satisfaction with journey so far, maintaining that the state would leave no stone unturned in its resolve to continue to consult and engage the people in accordance with the spirit and letters of open budgeting as stipulated by the Fiscal Responsibility Law.

The commission's Deputy Director of Budget, Linda Yakubu who stood in for the commissioner, reiterated that the event was packaged to essentially get the input of the people in the 2020 budget formulation process as a priority of the state government.

She explained: "The Commission is doing all it can to ensure that the people take ownership of the budget and fully support its implementation for the general good of the state. It is targeted at sustaining and strengthening citizens' engagement in governance".

Mr Timothy Effiong, a Public Financial Management Consultant, who among other things, reviewed micro and macro economic variables in the scheme of things, during the engagement, described MTEF as a public financial management tool used to facilitate effective allocation and utilization of available resources to achieve identified and agreed policies and priorities of government.

Highlight of the event took participants to task when they were broken into groups for their contributions and input into the 2020 budget formulation, with special emphasis on Internally Generated Revenue(IGR), grants, loans, levies and expenditures. Others are capital receipts, VAT and factors that enhance the budget process, monitoring and realistic budgeting.

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