Kaduna CSOs move to track 2020 Budget implementation

An elaborate template for budget tracking and monitoring of the 2020 budget - with special emphasis on procurement status, level of compliance, budget source documents and payments - have been put in place to identify bureaucratic bottlenecks, militating against optimum budget implementation in Kaduna state.

This renewed impetus of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), was a fallout of a 2-day partners budget reflection meeting for all stakeholders working around budget in the state - put together by Partnership to Engage Reform and Learn in collaboration with UK aid - touched on trend analysis of budget in key service delivery sectors of Health, Education and Infrastructure, between 2016 and 2020 as well as a comprehensive review of citizens' engagements around 2020 budget development process with a view of making 2021 more effective and result oriented.

Dr Elisha Auta Menson, who is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics of the Kaduna State University (KASU), in an interview with Cubinks commended the organizers, stressing the need for citizens to benefit from effective implementation of the state's 2020 budget.

"Budget is a vital instrument of governance. When it comes to issues of service delivery, particularly in the social sectors that members of the society benefit from, government must carry all stakeholders along. While Kaduna state has made tremendous progress in terms of opening up the budget process, there are still some issues that need to be addressed. First, we need more information around the budget such as the projects that are being executed, because we need to understand the time that monies are released", Menson remarked, regretting that as civil society, "while we are trying to monitor and evaluate progress, we've had some challenges because sometimes, even when monies are released by the government, bottlenecks don't really allow for quick interventions in terms of money getting directly to those carrying out the projects".

He decried a situation where the civil society are denied the right information when trying to track projects appropriately, thereby adversely affecting effective evaluation and assessment of projects. While explaining that budget has four critical steps of formulation, implementation, oversight and auditing, Menson remarked that "it is expected that the spirit of co-creation takes the center stage, which implies that at each stage or budget phase; the civil society on one side and government on the other, need to work together so that technical issues are adequately addressed to make it easier to assess performance".

On his part, Mr Yusuf Goje of the Coalition of Associations for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment and Development (CALPED), expressed delight about the meeting, maintaining that it was a good platform for all stakeholders working around the state's Budget 2020 and 2021 to give the citizens an insight as to whether or not government is actualizing its mandatory role of providing for the people.

PERL's State Team Leader, Mr Abel Adejor, expressed satisfaction with the turnout of participants and their selfless determination in working tirelessly around the budget process of the state, and thanked them for their unwavering sacrifice.

The 2-day partners' budget reflection meeting attracted participants from the state's

Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

Comments

Why States may be unable to pay new minimum wage -Commissioner

Citizens listening with rapt attention By YUSUF GOJE C ommissioner, Planning and Budget Commission Kaduna state, Mohammed Sani Dattijo has queried the rationale behind the proposed upward review of the minimum wage, which he said compels even states that are not viable to play ball. Making the assertion at the recently concluded Citizens' Consultation forum on Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2019-2021 held in Kaduna, Dattijo said:"The minimum wage should be moved from the exclusive to the concurrent list, even though Kaduna state is healthier than most states, there are states that cannot afford the increase in minimum wage. If this is not done, the increase in minimum wage will only be on paper but difficult to implement by many states, resulting in labor disputes". He stressed that the exclusiveness of this piece of legislation which empowers only the Federal government to de...

When competence matters in leadership recruitment

President Muhammadu Buhari DANGWA Danjuma T he tension that greeted Peter Obi’s walk out on the People’s Democratic Party included the concerns on availability of another competent partyman who will be worthy of the demand for the incorruptible leader to emerge vis a vis deputize when the chips are down. This also has been made easy by governor of Ebonyi, Engineer Dave Umahi’s exit from the party who would have stood out in the event that Obi falled shy of the Vice Presidential slot. This box around the party, underpinned by an outcry for national unity by nominating the South Eastern deputy in the second attempt of Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President, to dismiss the two term era of the incumbent All Progressive Congress on the premise that a good number of Nigerians will reconsider the PDP as a better alternative. However, viable options exist outside the South East for the PDP, particularly in the Niger Delta where state governors under the party hav...

Coalition urges COP-27 to fast track advocacy against Climate Change

Participants in a group photograph after the event in Kaduna By EDDY OCHIGBO, A coalition of environmental organizations in Kaduna, under the aegis Extinction Rebellion (XR) - a global movement which seeks to persuade governments to act justly on climate change and ecological emergency - has hosted a pre-COP27, in partnership with Bridge-that-Gap Initiative, to galvanize the campaign against climate change, as the the 27th Conference of Parties slated for Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt kicks off. In an exclusive interview with NATIONAL ACCORD, one the coordinators of the event in Kaduna metropolis, Mr Zinta Akpoko, revealed that COP27, Egypt could become a turning point of the campaign, given that forerunners of the conference have since pledged to relentlessly push to prioritize climate financing for developing nations. "The effect of climate change is very evident and we need to be very frank by telling the truth about the inherent dangers tha...

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 ...

Politics of Nigeria's Electoral Law

By EDDY OCHIGBO T he electoral process remains a key pillar of especially nascent democracies. This is more so because it is the only legitimate process that produces elected leaders across all levels of governance. The hallmark of democracy is in its transparency, fairness and credibility. However, in Nigeria our electoral process has been characterized by both institutional and process rigging. Political parties and candidates have continued to take advantage of the nation's weak legal frameworks to rig elections. Even at the level of Tribunal, Appeal and Supreme courts, technicalities take advantage of lacunas to uphold rigged elections. This cannot be unconnected with the poor quality of leaders the system is producing. Elections are no longer a popularity contest based on credibility, competence and sensitivity to the plight of the poor. It is now for the highest bidder with enough resources to subvert the process. Little wonder that election thuggery, snatching of ballot, b...

Cubinks NEWS

Search This Blog