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A summary of the state government's commitment to open budget By DANGWA DANJUMA T he Kaduna State Fiscal Responsibility Law (2016), should be reviewed to guarantee citizens participation in the budget process. Coalition of Associations for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment and Development's (CALPED) Head of Leadership, Governance and Advocacy, Yusuf Ishaku Goje who dropped the hint, maintained that "an amendment bill of the Fiscal Responsibility Law (FRL, 2016) should also be sent to the House of Assembly to capture the CDCs as an integral part of budget process". This, he said would surely, "boost citizen’s confidence in the State government and ensure we deliver on the OGP key performance indicators on open budget." During this year’s budget formulation, CDCs generated from some of the local government areas were submitted to the Planning & Budget Commission, but no evidence to show that a single one was captured in the 2020 approved budget....

By YUSUF GOJE T he present administration of Governor Nasir Ahmed El-rufai, since coming into office in 2015, has initiated a number of reforms. These reforms are aimed at strengthening the State’s public finance management system and improving public service delivery to the residents. The reforms are rooted in key laws such as the Fiscal Responsibility Law, Public Procurement Law, Tax Codification & Consolidation Law, Public Finances Law all in 2016, and Planning & Budget Commission Law in 2017. They provide the mechanism for achieving the developmental and socio-economic aspiration in the State Development Plan (SDP, 2016-2020) through the Sectors Implementation Plan (SIP, 2016-2019) and annual budgets. The high point of these reform initiatives came in 2017 when the State government signed into the Open Government Partnership (OGP). In fact, making it the first subnational in Nigeria to do so and was later elevated as a member of OGP global in 2018. This was follo...