By Haruna Usman, Birnin Kebbi
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Monday facilitated a quarterly budget performance evaluation under its State2State Activity. The event is intended for key ministries and departments in Kebbi State.
Usman Faleye, the State2State Team Lead in Kebbi kicked off the two-day workshop in Birnin Kebbi by welcoming the participants, the workshop’s primary objective was to review the use of allocated funds from the state’s main account by various ministries and departments with a special emphasis on the health sector.
Faleye stressed that the workshop’s theme: Enhancing Transparency and Accountability in Budgeting is geared towards identifying and rectify issues causing low budget performance and to hold individuals or government divisions accountable for hindrances to budget implementation that could benefit the citizens of Kebbi state.
Faleye noted that the commitment is the driving force behind including budget accounting officers in the workshop held at Azbir Hotel, Birnin Kebbi with the intent to hold these officers accountable for low budget performances within their ministries and to ensure transparency in budget implementation in the first quarter.
The participating ministries, include Health, Finance, and Budget, were expected to present data explaining their budget implementation. They were also tasked with identifying obstacles to transparent budget implementation during the year under review. As partner, State2State will develop strategies to ensure proper, transparent, and full budget performance for the citizens’ benefit, the primary recipients of these funds.
Murtala Musa Mahuta, Provost of the Kebbi State College of Nursing Sciences, presented a commendable budget presentation he reportedly achieved an 80% budget performance by providing physical infrastructure in the school and aids for nursing students, such as standard science laboratories and computers for digital research. Mahuta anticipates a budget increase in the near future to meet the growing demands of students, lecturers, and non-teaching staff contributing to the college’s progress.
Hajia Aisha Usman, the Permanent Secretary and Acting Head of Service, Kebbi State, expressed gratitude for the workshop while lamenting the low budget performance of some ministries. She attributed the underperformance of some departments’ refusal to provide necessary data to their parent ministries, which she deemed critical for effective budget implementation.
Usman added that the state government is facilitating ministries’ access to their funds. Once relevant officers scrutinize the proposed uses, funds are released for budget implementation for the benefit of Kebbi state citizens. “I’m sure there is room for improvement, and all the affected ministries and departments will step up. I thank State2State for keeping us accountable with a commitment to transparency,” she said.
The two-day workshop, concluding on Tuesday, aimed to equip participants with the requisite expertise to ensure accountability and transparency in all their budget dealings.
Key members of the Kebbi State House of Assembly, including the Chairman House Committee on Appropriations and other principal officers, attended the opening ceremony and contributed to the discussions.