Skip to main content

PERL trains Planning Officers, Citizens on Accountability, Service Delivery

 

As Stakeholders review 2022 Local Government Draft Budget

Cross-section of participants at the engagement during a session

 

By EDDY OCHIGBO, Kaduna 

In its sustained drive to enhance accountability and seamless service delivery at the local government level in Kaduna state, Partnership to Engage and Learn in collaboration with Local Government Accountability Mechanism (LGAM), on Monday October 25, 2021, organized a two-day technical session to increase the capacity and technical expertise of citizen groups and planning officers in the state. 

To this end, the Local Government Accountability Mechanism (LGAM), a collaborative initiative of the Ministry for Local Government Affairs, Civil Society partners and Partnership to Engage, Reform & Learn (PERL/FCDO), working as technical working groups to strengthen governance at the grassroots, have reviewed the Kaduna state 2022 budget with trend analysis, observations and recommendations.

The review of the ₦1,134,051,180.71 billion Ministry for local government affairs draft budget was done with CSOs, Media and Planning officers of the local government areas.

The significance of an effective and people-centered local government administration in promoting inclusive development, poverty reduction and security of lives and properties cannot be over-emphasized. However, this is dependent on the sustainable delivery of robust governance reforms, strengthening fiscal responsibility and improvement in the quantity and quality of service delivery. The Kaduna state government through the Ministry for Local Government Affairs with support from the civil society and development partners is facilitating far-reaching governance reforms through providing effective coordination and technical support to the 23 Local Governments.

The reforms have birthed the Local Government Reform Law, Local Government Development Plan (LGDP), participatory budgeting using the Community Development Charter (CDC) and Local Government Fiscal Transparency, Accountability & Sustainability (LFTAS) program. As a result, on average over fifty percent of the 23 local government budgets are now being informed by the CDC and for sustainability, an accountability mechanism with equal membership of government officials and citizens’ representatives to champion the reforms has been inaugurated and trained. 

To consolidate on and deepen these reforms, adequate funding for the Ministry for Local Government Affairs in the 2022 budget is significantly required. Similarly, it is important that community needs that were prioritized across the 23 local governments, using the CDC tool, inform the Kaduna State 2022 budget. This will amplify the government's commitment to an open budget in the State Action Plan (SAP) of the Open Government Partnership (OGP); and likewise, the State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability & Sustainability (SFTAS) DLI 2.2.

Ministry for Local Government Affairs (MoLGA)

  • Trend Analysis 2019-2021 (Recurrent + Capital)

Table 1:

Year

Ministry for Local Government Affairs 

State Total Budget 

Percentage

2019

₦603,351,026

₦157,449,001,861.15

0.3%

2020 (Revised)

₦1,740,762,302.97

₦223,601,718,246.91

0.7%

2021

₦2,333,053,374.09

₦246,667,587,219.07

0.9%

2022 (Draft)

₦1,134,051,180.71

₦233,673,039,755.88 

0.4%


Over the period of the analysis it has shown that total allocations to the Ministry for Local Government Affairs compared to the total budget has been below one percent, with the highest allocation being 2021 at 0.9%. Understandably, the major mandate of the Ministry is to coordinate and support the local government administration. However, considering the strategic role the Ministry can play in poverty reduction and community development it is key that more funds are allocated to it. 



  • Trend Analysis 2019-2020 (Capital Performance)

Table 2:

Year

Budgeted

Actual

Variance

Performance (%)

2019

₦235,408,602.31

₦119,908,188.75

₦115,500,413.56

50.9%

2020

₦10,159,770.68

₦119,908,188.75

₦2,532,002,864.56

-

2021 (Half Year)

2,333,053,374.09

₦1,086,162,968.51

₦1,246,890,405.58

46.6%


The Kaduna State Auditor-General’s Reports show that in 2019 there was actual performance of 50.9%; while the amounts captured in 2020 do not add up. However, the same amount appeared in 2019 and 2020 as actual performance under the budget line item - Reclamation of Communal forest Reserves across the 23 LGAs. In the 2021 half year budget performance report, it shows a 46.6% actual performance. From all indications, there is a need to improve releases, more so, cash-backing for the people-centric line items under the Ministry’s budget. 

  • 2022 Budget Allocation Breakdown

Table 3:

Recurrent 

₦292,863,815.41 

25.9%

Capital

₦841,187,365.30

74.1%

Total

₦1,134,051,180.71

100%


The 2022 draft budget shows that capital expenditure has 74.1% of the total allocation to the Ministry, with the recurrent getting 25.9%. Even though this is commendable, considering the strategic role the Ministry is playing towards accelerating inclusive rural development through governance reforms, more should be allocated to capital expenditure. This will contribute immensely to addressing inequality, poverty, hunger and insecurity.

  • Top Three Capital Expenditure Allocation 2022 Draft Budget

Table 4:

Budget Line Item

2022 Amount Submitted by MoLGA

2022 Draft (Amount)

% Slashed

2020 Revised Amount

2021 Amount

Rural Feeder Roads Project

                         ₦1,264,278,851.88 

₦ 398,567,311.13 

68.5%

111,883,152.18

₦970,127,008.05

Kauru Special Intervention on Rural Electrification Projects

                            ₦326,074,324.74 

₦195,644,594.84 

40.1%

₦152,475,446.92

₦173,891,083.55

Purchase and Installation of Transformers

                      ₦256,695,816.52 

₦ 154,017,489.91 

40.1%

₦228,354,598.81

₦578,007,411.32

Total

₦1,847,048,991

₦748,229,394

59.5%

Observation: The above table shows that the Ministry for Local Government Affairs proposed ₦1,847,048,991 for the top three projects, which was slashed by 59.5% to ₦748,229,394. This amount is 88.9% of the total capital expenditure of ₦841,187,365 under the Ministry. The slash to ₦398,567,311.13 from the initially proposed ₦1,264,278,851.88 for Rural Feeder Road Projects, should be reconsidered considering the importance of feeder roads to boasting rural economies and providing access road for security agencies for quick response to banditry. 

 

Community Development Charter (CDC)

The Community Development Charters (CDCs) were used to prioritize the needs of communities to inform the Local Government, State and Federal budgets. For the state budget, five local governments were able to submit CDCs to the Planning & Budget Commission for the state 2022 budget. The prioritized needs cuts across the health, education, and infrastructure such as feeder roads and rural electrification. This provides the Ministry a pool of projects especially those on feeder roads and rural electrification.

While explaining the essence of the Local Government budget review, State Lead Partnership to Engage and Learn(PERL) Mr Abel Adejor, stressed the need to strengthen transparency in the procurement process at the Local Government level through tracking and monitoring of project implementation.

"Given the benefits of service delivery, accountability and transparency in governance, United Kingdom is supporting budget implementation in Nigeria with British tax payers money to improve the lot of ordinary Nigerians", Adejor remarked. 

Mr Yusuf Goje of Coalition of Associations for Leaders, Peace, Empowerment and Development (CALPED), one the facilitators of the budget review called on participants and other critical stakeholders sensitize citizens on the need to engage and monitor the governance process, "because if the people go sleep, governance or government also goes to sleep".

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fiscal responsibility: Kaduna State's debt burden and unrealistic budgeting

By YUSUF ISHAKU GOJE T he budget is said to be the second most important document outside the constitution, without which even the constitution cannot fully function. It enables governments to turn campaign promises articulated as policies into concrete public services that seek to improve the overall living standard of the people. That is why it remains the most critical socio-economic policy tool that outlines the government's priorities in financial terms. The extent to which the government's proposed spending sticks to what it has projected as realistic revenue makes a budget credible. Therefore, it also becomes a measurement of government's sincerity and capacity to deliver on campaign promises. More importantly, the credibility of any budget depends on its realism, as you cannot spend what you cannot get. That means for a budget to be realistic it has to be substantially achievable. However, politicians are always under pressure to spend more, most times overshooting ...
Post a Comment
Read more