Transparency: Kaduna govt engages citizens in implementation, utilisation of 2021 budget

Kaduna State Government in its accountability and transparency drive has briefed the citizens on the implementation and utilization of the 2021 budget, tagged, ‘Budget of Recovery’, through the Citizens’ Accountability Report(CAR).

Tribune Online reports that the Citizens’ Accountability Report (CAR) is a series of graphic and tabular illustrations of the contents of the Audited financial statements (AFS) prepared by a government agency(state Audit office) on behalf of the state government to the citizens to ensure accountability of public funds.

Speaking at the Citizens’ Accountability town-hall engagement held at the Ministry of Local government Affairs, Commissioner for Finance, Muhammad Bashir Sa’idu said, the engagement which is the second edition is necessary, because accountability, Transparency and inclusiveness are the watchwords of the state government led by Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai thus, the reason he signed the Open Government Partnership(OGP) policy in the state.

He explained that the aim of the engagement organized by the ministry is to give the public feedback on the funds that are appropriated in the year 2021.

“We engaged the general public through a town hall meeting with what requiring the budget, we captured and harvested their inputs, they critique, we harvested their inputs and then factored them into budget and presented to the State house of Assembly. After passage, the excellency assented to law, now we have implemented, and in 2021 and passed, it is our responsibility to give the public feedback on how we have implemented and utilized it.

“That is why we invited members of the public to come and critique, ask questions and seek for clarity on the implementation and utilization of the budget”.

He expressed that despite the previous year was hit by a pandemic; Covid19 which ravaged every sector globally, Kaduna State was able to overcome the storm, as it performed up to 98% of capital project base on the template of the budget presented.

Presenting the CAR on the 2021 Audited Financial Statement, the Deputy Accountant General of Kaduna State, Aminu Sambo, said the 2021 budget of Kaduna state was passed, and implementation commenced on the 1st January 2021 with no supplementary budget in the year.

Sambo who was speaking to the Executive summary, explained that the aggregate CASH revenue performance was 85.06% of the budgeted N171.815 billion in the final budget this is equivalent to 25.6 billion shortfall.

According to him,” Federation account revenue out performed expectation and stood at 113.6% whilst IGR exceed budgetary expectations and stood at 101.4% of budget.
On the expenditure side, the actual total expenditure is about N14.332 billion(5.8%) less than the budgeted amount which was N246.667billion.”

He said capital expenditure was impressive during the period under review and with a performance of 98.9% of budgeted amounts, saying, ” much of the capital expenditure in 2021 were fresh projects and programmes; some were also continuation of existing projects

“Education and Health sectors enjoyed the highest proportion of recurrent expenditure, whilst Kaduna Roads Agency(KADRA), education and Health received the highest proportion of capital expenditure”

Consequently, he said the CAR has eleven citizens nominated projects with majority of them have reached advanced stage of completion.

Analysing the CAR, Yusuf Goje of CALPED said it detailed the government’s performance in carrying out the duties assigned to it and the utilization of funds in the coffers of the government.

He further explained that the accountability report is based on the financial statements for the financial year 2021 and the reports on state budget revenue and expenditure for 2021, saying the presentation of the document signified that the Gov’t has fulfilled one of the citizens demand by giving them a feedback on the budget and how they implemented it.

In her remark, the citizens co-chair, Open Government Partnership,(OGP), Hadiza Umar said the presentation shows that Kaduna state as an OGP, is working with the citizens in budgeting process and implementation.

She, therefore craved for the sustenance of such healthy, and positive relationship between the govt and citizens.