NAN-H-93
Budget
By Kate Obande
Abuja, Oct. 31, 2016 (NAN) Connected Development (CODE), an NGO, has called on the Federal Government to involve Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the 2017 budgeting process for effective appropriation, implementation and utilisation.
Mr Hamzat Lawal, the Chief Executive Officer of CODE, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.
He said that more funds should be allocated to the education sector which is the bedrock of the nation’s development, adding that 2016 budget for education was underfunded.
According to him, the N35.7 billion capital expenditure for education out of the N367 billion budgeted for education is poor.
He explained that the organisation had used its education budget tracker to visualise funds meant for various educational institutions across the country.
“It is important for the government to engage the civil society and key actors as they start discussion for 2017 budget.
“The National Assembly should make the budget defence to be open to enable the CSOs to be in attendance and listen to the defence to enable them monitor the funds for effective implementation.
“Most importantly, we need to see an ambitious budget, where more funds will be allocated to the education sector because education is underfunded in the 2016 budget.’’
Lawal said that there was the need for a unified and coordinative collaboration between international donors and the Nigerian government, to ensure a revamped education sector.
On the fight against corruption by the present administration, the CODE boss said that government should not just be ambitious but thorough.
He also urged governments at all levels, Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to respond to citizens’ freedom of information request, to tackle corruption.
Lawal explained that the government and all key actors in the country should use information from available data to influence their decisions and policies.
Commenting on the children in the Internally Displaced Camps (IDPs), Lawal said that transparency and accountability were required to ensure they bridged the education gap in the society.
He said that over N50 billion had been channelled to Borno to cater for the IDPs but that there was no concrete evidence on ground to show for it.
He advised that mobile education should be explored in educating the displaced children.
“ I think it is now time where we explore mobile education where we can have mobile facilities that go into the various IDP camps and inculcate knowledge into them.
“ But most importantly, how can we provide a safer environment for them because as much as we want to educate them, there is need for safe environment,’’ Lawal said. (NAN)
KTE/MO/NKO
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Edited by Morayo Omolade/Nkechi Okoronkwo