CSOs advise Kaduna State govt. against unrealistic budgeting

Some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Kaduna State have advised the state government against unrealistic budgeting for 2022.

The CSOs gave the advice in a communique issued in Kaduna on Wednesday, at the end of a virtual strategic session on: Kaduna State 2022-2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

The session was organised by the Coalition of Associations for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment and Development (CALPED) in collaboration with Budget Research and Development Policy Advocacy Centre (BREDPAC).

The objective was to increase stakeholder’s awareness on key components of the MTEF and reflect on past MTEF engagements to draw lessons learned.

The meeting was also organised to review the 2022-2024 MTEF and identify issues of concerns, make recommendations and agree on ways forward.

The CSOs observed that the state’s budgets had always been higher than the MTEF recommendation since 2016, making the budgets unrealistic, except in 2019 when the budget was closer to the MTEF recommendations.

They noted that the proposed N197.6 billion budget for 2022 as indicated in the draft MTEF was realistic and would make the budget more credible and create the desired impact if followed to the letter.

The communiqué stated that the CSOs resolved to carry out a robust advocacy to relevant authorities and agencies to ensure that the 2022 budget did not exceed the envelopes advised in the MTEF.

“CSOs working on key sectors will engage the draft MTEF to ensure that it aligns with policy and implementation plans.

“We will also engage the Kaduna State House of Assembly on the 2022 – 2024 MTEF, to improve quality and credibility of government’s fiscal plan in the three-year forecast.

“Civil society partners will also pay an advocacy visit to the Kaduna Fiscal Responsibility Commission to collaborate and strengthen the budget process,’’ it added.

The communiqué also stated that civil society partners supporting participatory budget processes at community levels would engage the budget calendar and ensure that communities prioritised needs were adequately captured in the 2022 budget.

It said the CSOs would begin to organise quarterly budget reviews to track performance and quality of implementation.

The CSOs, however, commended the state government for the consistency in engaging stakeholders during the MTEF drafting process.

The communique was jointly signed by Mr Yusuf Goje, Head of Leadership, Governance and Advocacy, CALPED, Dr. Auta Menson, Director, BREDPAC and Mr Godwin Akau, Community Development Charter Champion, Jema’a Local Government Area.