The Social Development Integrated Centre (Social Action) has applauded Governments of the Niger Delta States for making their budgets open and accessible to the public. The group made the remark in a press statement made available to journalists in Port Harcourt.
According to the programmes officer of Social Action, Peter Mazi, most of the States in the Niger Delta region now have their budgets available and also online, noting that it behooves on the citizens to take necessary actions and responsibilities to ensure that proper things are done by collaborating with the various States Governments to bring dividends of democracy to the people.
Comrade Mazi maintained that the development is a result of sustained advocacy and engagements with the various States Governments, while commending the Governments on measures put in place to ensure transparency, accountability and budget availability for its citizens.
He particularly stated that now that the budget of Rivers, Bayelsa, Edo and Delta States are at public domain, citizens, (individuals and institutions) should engage the various governments to better the lot of the people.
He, however, stated that some of the State Governments have appointed community liaison officers, who serve as medium of information exchange between the State Government and the citizens on political, social and economic matters. Social Action also urged the Niger Delta State Governments to pass the fiscal responsibility law to ensure probity and accountability in the fiscal management of the State.
In his speech, Comrade Sabastine Kpalap of the Open Budget Campaign, explained that the purpose of the briefly is to develop a framework to work with the various State Governments on budget issues, especially as it benefits both the citizens and the Government in particular.
Comrade Kpalap, in his reaction on citizen’s participation, said they will organize Town Hall Meeting soon for the purpose of harvesting citizen’s inputs on the budget. He appealled to State Governments that have not yet published their budgets online to do so.
The group called on members of Houses of Assembly to vigorously do their oversight functions to assist the Executive arm of government on fiscal management.
