CSOs urge citizens to engage Govt on budgeting, planning, implementation

By Austine Emmanuel, Kaduna

The Kaduna Local Government Accountability Mechanism, Coalition Association for Leadership, Peace Empowerment and Development, (CALPED) in collaboration with Budget Research and Development Policy Advocacy Africa and Ihifix with support of partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) have urged Kaduna residents to engage government in the quest for good governance.

Mr. Ishaku Yusuf Goje of CALPED made the call during the one-day technical session on Budget analysis and Advocacy in preparation for the draft 2024 budget, in Kaduna over the weekend.

He said citizens must continue to engage the government in the form of dialogue so as to  get the dividends of democracy.

He opined that it is in recognition of the fact that citizens who are the main stakeholders are partners in the development engineering of the State, stressing that involving stakeholders, such as CSOs will demonstrate that citizens’ engagement in the budgetary process would demystify the process and make the government accountable to the people.

One of the participants, Glory Yaoh from Open Government Youth Innovation Hub, said the event will help her see budgeting in proper perspectives.

Yaoh said, “This engagement is very striking because we are talking about budget planning advocacy and implementation of the budget. This engagement is going to help me to discharge my duties effectively by understanding the whole concept of budgeting.”