The Integrated Health Program (IHP) United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded project has assured that it will continue to partner with the Bauchi State Government in the area of proper health financing for development.
The assertion was made by the IHP health financing advisor, Khalid Kasimu at the opening of a 2-day budget tracking workshop for members of Bauchi State Accountability Mechanism for MNCH (BaSAM) and Journalists for Public Health and Development Initiative (J4PD) at the Chartwell Hotel, Misau.
Kasimu opined that effective budgeting in health is very paramount for the growth and development of the sector stressing that the sector needs prompt attention.
He added that if health budgeting and financing are gotten right, every other aspect of the health sector will fall in place which will, in turn, lead to growth and development of the sector.
He then urged members of BaSAM and J4PD to concentrate on the workshop in order to have something to hold on to as they engage stakeholders on the need for effective health financing for services delivery in the sector.
In his remarks, the Co-Chairman of BaSAM, John Abu Yusuf said that “The budget is the second most important document of any state, the first most important is the constitution as a government document, so we cannot overemphasise its importance.”
He stressed that “Irrespective of how beautiful the constitution of a country is, if the budget is faulty, there is no way the lofty provisions of the constitution can be achieved, that is the reason we are very particular about the budget especially we at BaSAM.”
John Abu Yusuf added that “That is the only way we can ensure that the people feel the existence of the government. We are not just here for ourselves, just for the sake of our jobs, but we are here for the sake of those who do not have the opportunity to be here and have this knowledge to help them track the budget,”
He further said that “We are to ensure effective implementation, reporting participation and ensure that the everyday life of unseen Nigerians are served,”
Also speaking, the Coordinator of J4PD, Elizabeth Nange Kah said that “We need this budget tracking workshop because we need evidence to be able to report issues concerning health and development accurately, issues that will generate debate among our various stakeholders,”
She added that “So, how else can we do this rather than to partner with agencies because we are also trying to coordinate the engagement of the development partners on issues, on external workings and so we need to work together as a team, every partner working on issues that affect women, children health and the environment.”
Elizabeth Kah added that “This is necessary because if we don’t have a healthy environment, we cannot have good health, so these are areas we are working in. We are meeting BaSAM for the first time and we hope that this will be the beginning of our partnership.”
According to her, “IHP has been supportive of our activities because it has been there for us from the beginning and is still with us, we hope that BaSAM too will cue in because we need to make your activities visible, we need to project what you are doing to improve the health sector.”
She concluded that “budgeting is one of the areas and as you all know, last week we tried to engage government partners, CSOs and the media on pre-budgeting validation in Bauchi state.”
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