NGO Urges Govts’ Transparency In Budget Matters

The Federal and state governments in Nigeria have been called upon  to always make their  budget documents  available  and accessible to members of the public as budgets could go beyond the figures as announced by government. 

  Making the call recently  in Enugu during a one day government and Civil Society Organisations and (CSOs)  meeting,the Executive Director of an Enugu based non – governmental organisation (NGO), Civil Resources Development And Documentation  Center (CIRDDOC),   Mrs. Oby Nwankwo, described budget as a  vital instrument for planning which all and sundry must have adequate information about.

  Mrs. Nwankwo whose  organisation is  committed to the protection and promotion of human rights as well as strengthening of civil society, regretted that Nigerian governments had always kept their   citizens  in the dark when deliberating on   issues bothering on budget.  

  Her words: “A budget should go beyond figures as announced by the government. A good governance must be guided by democratic principles of transparency, probity, and accountability”, stressing that any government that claims to be pursuing a pro – poor or people centred development must always allow the people to make inputs into a very important instrument of government such  as the budget.

 Mrs. Nwankwo, who spoke through the head  of legal department in the organisation, Barrister Chinwike Okereke, said when the people are not involved in the budget process ,  it would be seen as a mere government document, insisting that government must always give her citizens a sense of belonging when discussing budget matters.

        She ,  however, blamed the secret handling of government budget document  on the influence of Nigeria’s pre-1999 prolonged military rule, adding that  “this is one of the effects of long years of military government.  An era where every document is a secret document . The resultant effect of that culture of secrecy on the Nigeria project today is devastating.”

The CIRDDOC boss  said Nigeria ought to be one of the wealthiest countries in the world because of her abundant natural resources, but regretted tht she has turned out  to be poorest among nations due to corruption and poor management of resources by successive administrations especially the military, pointing out that a recent  United Nations report shows that  about 90% of Nigerians are poor .”   

  The  Executive Director further  hinted  that CIRDDOC  was currently  working on a project entitled “Monitoring the Virtual  Poverty Fund ( MVPF)” in Enugu state, a project, she said is  sponsored by Coalitions  for Change (C4C), and implemented by  Centre for Democracy And Development (CDD).

“Apart from strengthening the capacity of civil society groups to access, analyze, and use budget information to advocate priority issues,    the project, she explained is also aimed at monitoring budget performance of the debt relief gains on specific social services as well as sectors such as education, health, and water in Enugu State”.