Stakeholders have called for increased citizen participation, transparency, and accountability in Kaduna state’s budgeting process.
The appeal was made on Wednesday in Kaduna during the Civic Space Policy Dialogue 2.0, part of activities commemorating the 2026 Open Government Partnership (OGP) Week.
Organized by the Civil Impact for Sustainable Development Foundation, the dialogue brought together government officials, civil society organizations, and development partners to assess progress and identify gaps in participatory budgeting.
Citizens Co-chair of Participatory Budgeting under OGP Kaduna, Mr. Seth Luke, explained that the meeting aimed to review achievements since Kaduna joined OGP and to develop recommendations for reforms. He stated that stakeholders also examined challenges affecting participatory budgeting and discussed ways to strengthen digital platforms and legal frameworks for sustainability.
The OGP Point of Contact in Kaduna State, Mr. Tara Jeremiah, noted that Kaduna’s consistent observance of OGP Week reflects a growing collaboration between government and civil society. He highlighted that Kaduna has progressed from its first to its third State Action Plan, describing this as evidence of ongoing reforms in open governance. Jeremiah urged participants to engage constructively, emphasizing that OGP relies on dialogue and cooperation rather than confrontation. He cited recent late-night engagements between officials and stakeholders on service delivery as signs of increasing government commitment to accountability.
Olusegun Elemo, Executive Director of Paradigms Leadership Support Initiative, praised Kaduna’s advances in public finance management and citizen-participatory audits since 2016. He stressed that policies co-produced with citizens tend to yield better results than top-down approaches and urged stakeholders to focus on delivering value for money in public spending.
Vahyala Kwaga, BudgIT Country Director, emphasized that participatory budgeting is meaningful only when citizens actively shape priorities, monitor projects, and track implementation outcomes. He warned that consultations alone do not ensure accountability, insisting that citizen contributions must influence final decisions and policy execution. Kwaga called for greater inclusion, timely access to budget data, stronger feedback mechanisms, and deeper institutional collaboration to sustain reforms.
OGP National Advisor Uchenna Arisukwu urged increased political will and funding for OGP programs at both national and state levels. He praised Kaduna for launching the Citizen Delivery Tracker platform, encouraging residents to actively use it to monitor government performance and demand accountability.
Sharing Kaduna’s progress, Mr. Adejor Abel of the Citizens Center for Inclusive Development and Sustain Initiative explained that budget documents were previously inaccessible, and civic engagement was heavily restricted. Abel noted that budgets are now publicly available online, and town hall meetings and legislative hearings have expanded citizen participation. He credited the Community Development Charter framework for linking over 255 wards with civic champions across Kaduna’s local governments and zones since 2017. Abel added that more than half of local government capital budgets now reflect citizens’ priorities, although some projects still lack funding and proper implementation.
The dialogue concluded with participants calling for honest reflection, inclusive governance, and enforceable accountability measures to strengthen Kaduna’s participatory budgeting model.
