As part of its efforts to enhance transparency and accountability in fiscal governance , Policy Alert, a non-governmental organization that works to ensure that policy, legislative, and business processes yield meaningful and sustainable outcomes for people and planet is to collaborate with the Akwa Ibom State Fiscal Responsibility Board to prioritize youths’ active participation in the budget processes of their local government areas.
Speaking during an advocacy visit to the Board on Tuesday at Idongesit Nkanga Secretariat, Uyo as part of the Priortizing Communities: Enhancing Transparency and Accountability in Local Government Administration project implemented by Policy Alert with support Nigeria Youth Future Funds, The Project Lead, Miss Idorenyin Eyo said the visit was to get the Board’s buy-in to ensure that local government chairmen in the state identify with the organisation’s upcoming training for youths at the local government level on capacity building and participatory governance.
Miss Eyo explained that getting the buy-in of the Board ahead as the project implementation commences became necessary in view of the strategic importance of the Board as a body responsible for overseeing management of public funds, as well as ensuring transparency and accountability across the 31 local government areas of the state.
Miss Eyo therefore, said based on the significant role the Board plays, Policy Alert would ever remain committed not only to enlighten citizens on local government budget inclusivity, but also to ensure that chairmen become more transparent and accountable in budget implementation.
” A lot of people are not aware of how budgets are prepared. So, we want to partner the Board to help us go out and build capacity of young people. We want the youths to go to their local government areas and know what is happening there – the budget process and actively participate”.
Expounding on the training, the Programme Assistant, who disclosed that the training is a funded pilot programme, said thirty youths would be selected from ten local government areas cutting across the three senatorial districts of the state, and equipped with knowledge on budgeting and budget analysis.
” We are piloting with ten local government areas across the three senatorial districts of the state. This is because, the time frame for the training is short – 12 months is not enough to go round all the local government areas. Maybe in another batch, we will be able to take the rest of the local government areas”.
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Miss Eyo insisted that while the training would eliminate ignorance and lackadaisical attitude towards active participation in local government administration on the part of youths, it would also enhance openness in all spheres of local government activities.
Also on the advocacy team was Mr. Peace Edem, a youth development practitioner agreed that the Board had made immense efforts in enhancing transparent and accountable leadership at the third tier of government in Akwa Ibom beginning from last year through the regular consultations and open budget consultative meetings at the local government level which he noted must be sustained.
On his part, Mr. Faith Paulinus however appealed for more efforts, particularly in the area of ensuring that chairmen create and upload their budgets on their website for enhanced citizen participation and trust.
Responding to the request for partnership, Head of Administration, AKS Fiscal Responsibility Board, Mrs. Nkoyo Otohotoho, said the Board was currently visiting the local government areas to ensure that citizens participate in the budget process.
She also stated that efforts were being intensified to have all the local government areas in Akwa Ibom own a Website where their budgets and the level of implementation on a yearly basis could be uploaded for accessibility.
The Head of Administration therefore, thanked Policy Alert for the collaboration, and pledged the Board’s support towards the realization of the goal of the capacity building programme.
