The Young Leaders Network, a Non Governmental Organisation has tasked government at all levels on inclusive budget process and development planning to reflect citizens’ demands.
Mr Seun Onarinde, Executive Director, Young Leaders Network, made the call on Tuesday in Lafia during a stakeholders’ Roundtable on Strengthening Community Charter Demand (CCD) Implementation in the Planning and Budgeting Process.
Onarinde said the he programme is being supported by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
According to him, the roundtable was aimed at raising awareness of the Community Charter of Demands (CCD) and examining how citizens can effectively engage across the budget cycle.
“Today we have what we call a stakeholders’ roundtable on strengthening CCD implementation. The goal is to first raise awareness to let citizens know that there is provision to make input into the state budget.
“This is one way to ensure communities get some of their needs met and benefit from dividends of democracy,” he said.
He explained that participants were selected from across the board, government officials, international cooperation, religious leaders, traditional rulers, civil society organisations, and people with disabilities.
Onarinde said the stakeholders’ engagement aimed at examining the framework in which CCD could be implemented, and also to identify windows and opportunities for citizens to engage in the pre-budget cycle, budgeting process and post-budget process.
“We were also able to identify challenges that different citizens’ groups face, and they asked questions for clarification so that as they return to their communities, they return clearer and with stronger commitment,” he stated.
Speaking on budget implementation and tracking, Onarinde commended Nasarawa State Government for recording significant improvement.
He, however, urged Nasarawa State Government to make the budget more specific and detailed instead of lumping some of the budget items.
Also speaking, Mr Ahmed Muhammad, Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, described CCD as the vehicle that has taken government to the people, noting that over 300 communities from Keana to Wamba, Toto to Awe, have developed CCDs.
The Commissioner, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr Isa Abdul-Osama, said the roundtable was convened to answer one question: “How do we move from CCDs on paper to CCDs in our Budget and State Development Plan”
Muhammad said the World Bank SABER Programme and Open Government Partnership require at least 60 per cent of community needs in CCDs to be reflected in the annual budget, a benchmark state government was determined to exceed.
He said no Ministries, Departments and Agencies’ budget submissions would henceforth be accepted without evidence of community consultation and linkage to CCDs.
The representative of the Christian Association of Nigeria and Jama’atu Nasril Islam, Nasarawa State, Reverend Kefas Abari and Alhaji Aliyu Muhammad
described the roundtable as one of the best for good governance.
