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By Joel Anekwe
The Social Development Integrated Centre (Social Action) has called for a legislation and framework to make it mandatory for governments, especially at the state level, to allow for citizens’ participation in budget formation and implementation in their states.
The civil society organization (CSO) made the call on Friday in Port Harcourt during a press briefing tagged, ‘Open Budget in the Niger Delta – The Journey So Far.’
Peter Mazzi, programme officer, Social Action emphasised the need for a legislation and framework that would make it mandatory for state governors to ensure citizens’ participation in the budgeting process, beginning from the preparation to implementation.
Mazzi explained further: “Budget system stands on a tripod. The first is that government adopts inclusiveness in public expenditures. This implies that budgets and other fiscal documents are proactively made available to the citizens at no cost to them.”
According to him the second “is that the government must create spaces for citizens’ participation in the budget process. The third is that institutions vested with the responsibility to carry out oversight functions must do so without any form of interference.”
He observed that there have been little improvements by the six states of the Niger Delta after a sustained engagement, but stated that a lot still needed to be done by the state governments to bring the process to an acceptable level.
On the performance of the states So far, he stated; “while some have gone ahead of others in budget availability and accessibility and achieved varied degrees of citizen participation, they have all fared poorly with regards to oversight functions of the designated institutions.”
“Some states don’t have the Fiscal Responsibility Law, and in some states where it exists, the provisions are not followed through,” Mazzi lamented, adding that the procurement processes were usually flawed and implementation reports not made available to citizens who wish to carry out project monitoring in their domains.
He called on citizens to participate actively in the budget process of their states, demanding that “organised community groups and the civil society, including the media should collaborate to capture spaces for engaging their governments in the provision of infrastructural amenities and development through the provisions in the budget. The budget remains the legal means of distributing wealth to the citizens and must therefore not be treated with levity by the citizens. The task of enthroning good governance is a shared responsibility and all hands must be on deck.”
Also present at the briefing were Sebastian Kpalap, coordinator of Citizens Voice Initiative, Amaechi Kelechi Justin, executive director of Community Conciliation and Development Initiative and Green Isaac, executive director of Relief International – Africa.
