A new innovation, that comes in the form of a template known as the community Charter of Demand (CCD) has been introduced into the budgeting process of Bauchi State.
It is expected that it will give citizens the chance to come together within their respective communities and list their priority needs with a view to having it incorporated into the 2024 proposed State Budget.
This is as preparations for the State’s 2024 proposed budget to take center stage, the State Government, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded State Transparency, Accountability and Effectiveness Activity (USAID State2State).
The CCD template was officially presented to the public by the Permanent Secretary of the Bauchi State Ministry of Budget and Planning, Mallam Idris Sale Giade in Misau on Wednesday.
It was during the ongoing Bauchi State budget public hearing holding across the Northern and Central Senatorial Zones of the State.
While presenting the CCD template to community/religious leaders, CSOs, FBOs and Local Government officials present at the hearing, Sale Giade said that the CCD template is yet another avenue for citizens of Bauchi State to articulate their needs in order of priorities.
The Permanent Secretary said that this singular act of making the CCD template available to citizens has further given credence to Governor Bala Mohammed’s quest for productive citizen engagement and ownership aimed at entrenching good governance in conducting Government activities and programs.
Sale Giade then called on citizens of the State to avail themselves of the opportunity by highlighting key areas of their needs while filling the CCD template.
He also commended USAID State2State for their continued support in providing technical assistance to Bauchi State, and in particular, for developing the maiden edition of the CCD template which, according to him, will no doubt enhance citizens engagement before, during and after the proposed budget has been passed into law.
Earlier on, while presenting the Community Charter of Demand (CCD) templates to the Permanent Secretary for onward distribution to participants, State2State’s Citizens Engagement Specialist, Habila Salem informed the gathering that the CCD template was designed in a user-friendly manner for ease of understanding by citizens.
Habila Salem further revealed that the templates were designed using both English and Hausa Languages for maximum understanding, productive input and further engagement for tracking purposes.
The Specialist then urged citizens of the state to come together at the community level and identify what their needs are and then indicate it in the CCD template that would be collated by the Government for possible inclusion into the budget.
Reacting to the development, a participant from the Northern Senatorial Zone who also doubled as the Chairperson of a CSO known as Community Women Assistance, Hajiya Ummi Ya’u described the CCD initiative as innovative, stressing that it will definitely increase citizens participation in the budget process.
She said that her organisation will leverage the opportunities provided by the CCD initiative to transmit their priority needs to the government.
Hajiya Ya’u also pledged to further enlighten other key stakeholders on the existence of the CCD template so that more citizens could be part of the budget processes.
Tribune Online observed the active participation of the public during the exercise and the enthusiasm demonstrated by the participants over the unveiling of the CCD template.
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