Plateau among states yet to make budget details public

About 20 states have failed to publicly disclose their proposed 2017 budget, a civic technology organisation, BudgIT Nigeria, has said.

The organization, which is interested in ensuring transparency and accountability in government budgets, said only Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna and Kogi States released the details of their budgets.

BudgIT, in a statement issued by its Co-founder and Team Lead, Oluseun Onigbinde, in Abuja, said only 14 states had posted details of its budgets online.

The states, according to Onigbinde, were Akwa Ibom, Edo, Ekiti, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Ondo, Abia, Plateau and Yobe.

The statement reads: “This reveals that Lagos, Rivers, Osun, Oyo, Anambra, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Enugu, Imo, Kebbi, Niger, Ogun, Sokoto, Taraba, Zamfara and Adamawa States have not made their detailed approved budget available online.

“It is also found out that certain states such as Lagos published summaries online that provide no project details that citizens can effectively track.

“Contrary to the conditions tied to the N90bn bailout fund provided by the Minister of Finance, none of the 36 states have made their budget implementation report available to the public.”

Onigbinde said making budget document public by publishing it online was central to ensuring transparency and good governance.

According to him, while huge emphasis had been placed on the Federal Government, radical transparency was needed at the sub-national level if Nigeria hopes to curb corruption.

“We believe that making budget document public, mostly through online means, is central to transparency and good governance. It is important to understand in clear terms what the government at the sub-national level is doing with public funds. While huge emphasis has been placed on the Federal Government, radical transparency is needed at the sub-national level if Nigeria hopes to curb corruption.

“Our research showed that most states require citizens to either pay for hard copies of the budgets or go through a lengthy application process for what is meant to be a public document and can be posted freely online.

“While Nigerians pay little attention to state finances, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria, out of the N50tn spent between 2011 and 2015, 36 state governments and the FCT cumulatively spent over N18.89tn, representing 38 per cent of entire expenditure.

“Advocacy to ensure the public knowledge of how and what states spends taxpayers funds on will not cease. We believe that a functional society is that which takes into highest regards citizen engagement and participation in all areas. Without budget information, it is near impossible to participate in government, thus defeating the concept and essence of democracy altogether.

“We implore the citizens to also continually demand accountability from those in charge of their funds and keep them on their toes to improve on the current governance structure,” the statement added.