PERL mobilises CSOs to track  implementation of the 2023 Budget in Kaduna

PERL mobilises CSOs to track  implementation of the 2023 Budget in Kaduna

 

By: Femi Mustapha

 

The Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) a

UK-supported governance programme, Thursday mobilised Accountability mechanisms  and others stakeholders to  track the implementation of the Kaduna state Budget.

 

The State Lead Facilitator, PERL, Mr Adejor Abel, said at the opening of a technical session with civil society groups  that the goal was to ensure that Kaduna state budget benefits Citizens.

 

The technical session has  objectives to access citizens ‘s influence in the 2023 approved Budget uses analysis harmonized and presented to accountability Mechanisms in the sectors.

 

The session is also to enhance Civil society  Organizations and Media capacity to effectively engage government with evidence

from the  budget.

 

” To generate need steps and strategies for tracking 2023 budget implementation as  well as advocacy to improve and sustain releases for sectors. ”

 

Abel said that the Accountability mechanisms from Agriculture, JONAPWD, Health  Education and Social Protection  were selected because of their critical contributions to human capacity development.

 

He emphasised that tracking the implementation of the budget across the sectors in Kaduna State would ensure the needed transparency, accountability, and value for money.

 

He commended the effort of the civil society groups in the state that are working with the government to deliver quality services that impact the lives of the residents.

 

He, however, called  for media space to ensure that legislators actually bring development projects to their constituency.

 

In his remarks, the  Co-Chair Open  Government Partnership Technical Working Group on Social Protection  Philip  Yatai  opined that  the engagement is very important because this is an electioneering year and there is need for position paper by the Civil society organizations on previous engagement and how to move forward with the new administration for the betterment of  the citizens.

 

Similarly, Mrs Hadiza Umar, Citizens’ Co-chair, Open Government Partnership, commended PERL for organising the meeting, which she described as “very critical” to effective tracking of the implementation of federal government budget in Kaduna State.

 

“This is very important so that citizens will understand what was provided in the budget, the purpose, locations, implementing agencies and the expected benefits for the citizens,” she said

 

Mr Yusuf Goje of the Coalition of Association for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment and Development, described the budget as a “fiscal policy apparatus used by the government to channel resources into its commitment and obligations to the citizens”.

 

According to him key component of improving budget expenditure management had been the need of the government to improve transparency in its planning and implementation.

 

 

He  said the 2023 Appropriation Bill has a total size of N370.33bilion, a 21.82 percent increase from the 2022 revised appropriation of N303.99bilion.

 

Mr. Goje expressed dismay that  N25.8B is for foreign loan interest and N5.6 for domestic loan repayment.

 

Goje stressed that the  realistic of the budgeting, over exaggerated revenue target for MDAs, Debt servicing, Low prioritization of  the key sectors, Sectors implementation plan review reporting by the Department of Monitoring and evaluation  planning and Budget Commission should form advocacy issues for the CSOs.