CSO Wants Kaduna Budget To Address Poverty, Inequality

The Budget Research and Development Policy Advocacy Centre, a civil society organisation, has called on the Kaduna State Government to work toward addressing poverty, unemployment and inequality in its 2020 budget.
Its Executive Director, Dr Elisha Auta, made the appeal in an interview with newsmen in Kaduna, while reacting to the state’s 2020 budget processes.
According to him, if budget cannot reduce poverty, unemployment and inequality issues, then the budget process becomes merely an academic exercise.
“The government have been executing projects outlined in the state budget for the past four years and we have not seen much in terms of how it has affected the lives of the commonman.
“The state government said in its Development Plant 2016 to 2020, that when it took power in 2015, the absolute poverty rate in the state is 60 per cent.
“This is four years ago, and we still have no idea where we have moved in terms of reducing poverty and creating jobs.
“Therefore, as the state prepares yet another budget for year 2020, we want to see how the budget is performing in terms of reducing poverty and in terms of creating jobs to reduce unemployment.
“We also want to see how the budget is reducing inequality gap.”
Auta, who is also a lecturer in Economics Department, Kaduna State University, noted that the concern of the government should be delivering jobs and ensuring social security.
He added that this could only be achieved through good governance, transparency and accountability.
“We need to know how the budget is performing, not in terms of how much was spent, but how it is impacting on the lives of the people.
“Some people see the budget as an economic document, while others view it as a political document.
“But in reality, there is a political and the economic aspects of the budget and one must not overshadow the other.
“If the government allow the political aspect of the budget to dominate the economic aspect, then we will not get anything substantial in terms of economic growth and development.
“Because it is these economic growth and development that will impact on the lives of the people,” Auta added.