Preamble
As part of activities marking OGP at ten and contribution to the emerging conversations from the 2021 Global Summit, on the 21st December, 2021, the Coalition of Associations for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment & Development (CALPED) in collaboration with the Kaduna State Fiscal Responsibility Commission and Partnership to Engage, Reform & Learn (PERL) organized a virtual engagement with stakeholders to reflect, share ideas and strategies on the theme – OGP at 10: Strengthening Civic Space and Public Participation in the Budget Process in Kaduna state.
The engagement had the objectives to: provide local perspective to the ongoing conversation from the 2021 OGP Global Summit on strengthening civic space and public participation, tackling anti-corruption, and promoting inclusive digital innovation; share ideas and perspectives on strengthening civic space and public participation in the budget process in Kaduna State; brainstorm on strategies on how to expand the civic space, improve public participation in the budget process and strengthen fiscal responsibility; and collaboratively agree on practical next steps.
The keynote presentation was delivered by Murtala Dabo, Executive Chairman, Kaduna State Fiscal Responsibility Commission. The panel of discussants was made up of Mohammad Jalal, Peter Adamu, Mohammad Lawal, Permanent Commissioners, Kaduna State Fiscal Responsibility Commission; Abubakar Buba, Chairman, Kaduna state chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON); Dr. Elisha Auta Menson, Executive Director, Budget Research & Development Policy Advocacy Center (BREDPAC); and moderated by Yusuf Goje, Head of Governance & Advocacy, CALPED.
There were also brief remarks by Abel Adejor, State Lead Facilitator, PERL; Hadiza Umar, Citizens Co-chair in the State Steering Committee of the OGP; and Mustapha Jumare, immediate past Citizens’ Co-chair of the OGP and Chairman, Kaduna Maternal Accountability Mechanism (KADMAM). The participants were drawn from the State Steering Committee of the OGP, various accountability mechanisms, civil society organizations, academia and media.
Issues Discussed
- Kaduna state joined the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in 2016 and is currently implementing its second action-plan with commitments on Open Budget, Open Contracting, Citizens’ Engagement, Strengthening Social Protection System and Improving Service Delivery in Health and Education.
Stakeholders commended the Kaduna state government for leveraging on the OGP to initiate far-reaching reforms that are strengthening fiscal transparency and citizens’ engagement in the budget process.
The OGP in Kaduna state is a game-changer for civil society and other citizens as it has created more spaces for dialogue and collaborations in championing reforms that promote transparency, accountability and government responsiveness to citizens’ demands.
The attention of the OGP secretariat which is domiciled in the Planning and Budget Commission was drawn to the fact that a lot of public servants still do not have an understanding of the OGP and the State action-plan. It was emphasized that sensitization should be scaled to all the MDAs on what OGP is all about; and also involve more citizens’ groups like the CDC champions in monitoring and tracking of government projects at their various localities.
The State Steering Committee of the OGP is working to map-out relevant Ministries, Departments & Agencies (MDAs) to loop them in and ensure active participation in the implementation of the State Action-Plan.
The Kaduna State Fiscal Responsibility Commission does not have the powers to prosecute, thus the 2016 law requires a review to enable the Commission carry out effective enforcement. A review of the law is currently going on at the national level and that of Kaduna state will also align with it particularly in the area of enforcement.
More recent approaches have emphasized the need to ensure ‘Value for Money’ (VFM) management and control strategies to ensure that public funds are controlled in such a way as to maximize the benefit to the Government and the public, and that expenditure controls are not unduly expensive to administer.
The stakeholders identified are the citizens, civil society, media, development partners, parliament, judiciary, law enforcement agencies, civil servants, public servants, government agencies, trade associations and any interested party. As stakeholders, these parties have roles to play individually and collectively in achieving or upholding the tenets which will guarantee fiscal transparency and responsibility.
The Fiscal Responsibility Commission has developed its work-plan for 2022 to ensure it carries out its mandate effectively despite constraint of inadequate funding. Donor agencies were called upon support them to carry out fiscal discipline in the state.
The OGP through the Planning and Budget Commission and civil society partners are working to ensure the Community Development Charter (CDC) and also town-hall meetings are institutionalized and sustained in the State. The partnership is also working to boost advocacy and sensitization of civil society and government actors at all levels.
There are efforts to review the State Budget guideline/manual to capture the CDC to ensure seamless process in informing the annual budgets. As this will further allow for more public participation in the budget process in Kaduna state.
The civil society actors were charged to not only demand for more civic spaces but to ensure they take advantage of existing spaces to participate in ongoing OGP reforms under the five commitment areas.
The 23 Local Government Areas through the support of the Ministry of Local Government Affairs and Planning & Budget Commission have continued to carry-out reforms that align with the OGP principles of transparency, accountability and citizens’ engagement. Aside from working with the CDC Champions to capture community needs, the Councils in preparation for the 2022 budget have all held citizens’ engagement town-hall meetings.
On improving Internally Generated Revenue, ALGON is working with the State government to address challenges around collection of revenues at the local government level. The local government revenue committees are currently being reconstituted, the councils are now empowered to request for the replacement of non-performing collection agents, the Chairmen are to be given access to monitor ongoing collection.
On addressing challenges around reconciliation and remittance, the Executive Governor has mandated the Ministry of Finance to open separate accounts where such revenues collected on behalf of local governments are to be paid into for each local government. Each local government has access to a portal where they can track their revenues and ensure they get what is due to them.
It was observed that the Kaduna state government debt has surpassed most of the sustainability threshold with the total public debt of the State standing at about two hundred and eighty four billion naira as at 31st December, 2020. The Commission was advised to do more in providing oversight to ensure that our debt risks are within manageable levels.
Furthermore, the Fiscal Responsibility Commission was called upon to closely monitor to ensure adherence and alignment between Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and approved budgets towards ensuring the budget realism and credibility.
Commendably, the annual budget performance has been improving over the past few years. However, while releases are usually high, it was raised that not all releases are cash-backed and equitably distributed as priority is placed more on the urban renewal projects while critical components in health and education are not performing to desired expectation.
The Fiscal Responsibility Commission has appreciated the concerns around none disbursement of 2020 LFTAS performance grants and have assured that it is working towards resolving that with the critical stakeholders involved
It was proposed that the Fiscal Responsibility Commission should play a more prominent role in implementing reforms under the State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability & Sustainability (SFTAS) and Local Government Fiscal Transparency, Accountability & Sustainability (LFTAS) programs.
There is a good working synergy between the Commission and the Ministry of Finance, as they share a similar goal of ensuring prudent management of the State’s finances toward quality service delivery.
Resolutions
The stakeholders resolved that:
- avenues and programs such as this are important in reminding various stakeholders about their roles in entrenching the culture of fiscal transparency and responsibility;
strong public accountability/financial management systems are essential for determining and meeting fiscal transparency and responsibility obligations;
fiscal rules and responsibility enshrined in law with independent oversight fiscal bodies to monitor and report on compliance, would over time, bolster the credibility of the fiscal responsibility framework and promote transparency;
to entrench the culture of fiscal discipline and citizens’ engagement there is the need to amend the Kaduna State Fiscal Responsibility Law, 2016, to institutionalize the Community Development Charter (CDC), annual town-hall meetings, and enable effective enforcement of compliance by the Commission;
the open government partnership (OGP) Citizens Steering Committee will strive to leverage on all platforms available to engage the State government, advocate for more civic spaces and continue to ask relevant questions, and demand for transparency and accountability;
the Fiscal Responsibility Commission will open its doors for more partnership with civil society to ensure that its mandate is achieved. The commission has committed to further share its 2022 annual work-plan with civil society organizations and development partners for their feedback and collaborative partnership; and
the civil society accountability mechanisms will collaborate with the Fiscal Responsibility Commission to advocate for equitable cash-backing of releases to the health, education and local government sectors.
Signed:
Yusuf Goje
Head of Leadership, Governance & Advocacy
Coalition of Associations for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment & Development (CALPED)
