NGO wants CSO, media involvement in Kaduna education processes

The Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA) on Friday called on the Kaduna State Government to involve Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the media in education project planning and budget processes.

CSACEFA’s Programme Officer, Adeleke Damian-Mary, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna that this would ensure the timely implementation, execution and delivery of education projects.

He called on the state government to strengthen the synergy between contractors and community members to enable the communities to take ownership of the project for sustainability.

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He explained that the CSACEFA, with funding from the MacArthur Foundation, had mobilised and trained community members to raise their voices on project implementation and monitoring in their areas.

“For about two years now, we have been mobilising and sensitising community members in Lere, Kaduna North and Jaba Local Government Areas of the state to demand quality education services.

“This is being supported by the MacArthur Foundation to ensure that community members raise their voices to ensure that education projects sited in their communities are actually delivered.

“This is mainly meant to cut corruption at the community level where contractors collect money and abandon projects because the government is not in the community to monitor them,” he said.

The programme officer said that CSACEFA had on Thursday met with the community members, CSOs, women and youth group to get feedback on whether or not the government responds to their demands.

“We equally needed to know if community members are being engaged in the planning and implementation of education programmes and projects in the state.

“So far so good, feedback from the community members showed that the state government is beginning to open its doors to community members and contractors are going back to complete abandoned projects.

“This shows that the people are exercising their rights in demanding accountability and their voices are being heard. We really commended the Kaduna state government for opening the education sector to the public.

“This will greatly strengthen the needed transparency and accountability in the delivery of education projects and improve quality of education in the state,” he said.