Some Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from Kaduna, Kano and Jigawa states on Thursday, began a two-day meeting to develop strategies to effectively track the 2023 Federal Government’s (FG) education and health budgets.
The CSOs were under health and education accountability mechanisms, a platform made up of government and civil society groups working to ensure transparency and accountability in the delivery of projects.
The meeting was supported by the Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL), a governance programme of the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
It is organized with technical support from the National Secretariat of the Open Government Partnership (OGP).
The OGP National Coordinator, Dr Gloria Ahmed, said at the opening of the meeting in Kano, that the objective was to support the accountability platforms to sustain budget tracking in health and education sectors.
Ahmed, who was represented by Ramatu Bello, Sub-National Advisor, OGP, added that the meeting was also organised to identify specific health and education projects in the 2023 budget to be tracked.
“The meeting will equally guide partners on articulating findings from tracked projects to elicit response and commitment from stakeholders, particularly government officials.
“It also provides us with the opportunity to share experience on the tracked 2022 FG’s health and education budgets,” she said.
Mr Istifanus Akau, Federal Partnership Facilitator, PERL, while presenting an overview of the 2023 health and education budgets, stressed the need to interrogate the budget provisions to be able to ask critical questions.
This, according to him, will ensure effective tracking of the budget implementation, with a view to improve service delivery in critical sectors.
Akau said that a total of N1.79 trillion was allocated to the education sector while N1.15 trillion was allocated to the health sector in the 2023 budget.
He urged the civil society groups to pay attention to how the funds would be realised and closely monitor the disbursement and utilisation of the funds.
“This will ensure value for money and improved service delivery,” he said.
Earlier, Mr Isa Surajo, PERL State Lead Facilitator, Kano, and Jigawa States, stressed the need for the civil society groups to be accountable in their efforts to hold the government to account.
Surajor pointed out that monitoring and tracking the delivery of budgeted projects and programmes, particularly in the education and health sectors would ensure value for money.
“It will also improve the quality of service delivery, which in the long run will improve the standard of living of the people,” he said.
