Jigawa Govt Welcomes Citizens’ Tracking Of Budget Preparations, Execution
By: Ahmed Aminu, Dutse
Jigawa state government says it welcomes the full participation of citizens in budget preparations, execution and monitoring.
This, the government said, would ensure that projects captured in budget were tailored to meet the needs of citizens, and enhance accountability in the management of public resources.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Alhaji Yusha’u Muhammad Jaji, made this known when the Jigawa state Project Officer of Connect Development (CODE), Comrade Adam Sulaiman, paid him an advocacy visit in Dutse.
According to him, it is already a government policy to get citizens’ inputs “before and during every budget preparation, through town hall meetings and high level budget discussions”.
“During the town hall and high level budget discussions all stakeholders are involved and they discuss extensively on what and where any project benefiting community wants to be placed.”
“To ensure citizens priority and participation in budget and project execution and monitoring, government considered the adoption of a new digital system, NomTrack tools, for engaging citizens in project execution in the state.”
Jaji addressed concerns over projects duplications, blaming it on “coordination lapses between government, donor agencies, development partners, and legislators’ constituency projects”.
“Sometimes, they never contact government before siting some projects. Most times we only see contractors arriving at projects sites.”
The permanent secretary emphasised the need for proper and effective coordination between government, donor agencies and legislators, to channel resources for projects properly and avoid duplication.
Also, during the CODE’s team visit to Jigawa State Due Process Bureau, the Director General, Professor Kassim Muhammad said the bureau was also making efforts to address projects duplication.
“All projects are betted, location is reflected in any project, and we are detecting it quickly and easy.”
“At times, the project title is the problem. Some projects are not a case of duplication but continuation of an earlier project. It’s given the same title with the previous ones”.
The director general said there was need for more enlightenment to make community members own and monitor public projects being executed in their localities.
He also urged communities and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to be observant and ensure that access is provided in any public building for People Living with Disabilities, PLWDs.
According to him, Jigawa State Government has made it compulsory for new public buildings to take into consideration the PLWDs.
Earlier, Sulaiman, the CODE state Project Officer, had presented the observations of its stakeholders with regards to budget implementation in the state.
These, include projects duplication in budget execution, lack of provision for easy access to public buildings and facilities for PLWDs, and the need to deploy a budget tracking tool.
