Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki
Speaker of Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Moses Odunwa, has reiterated the commitment of the Assembly towards ensuring total compliance with budget proposals in the state.
This is even as he noted that the state in the last review by the States Fiscal Transparency League Table in Quarter1 of 2024, came 5th in the rankings in Nigeria.
The Speaker said this will enable the budget to meet up with the People’s Charter of Needs Mantra of the State Governor, Francis Nwifuru, and improve the ranking of the state.
He made the declaration at the quarterly Budget Performance hearing between the Ebonyi State House of Assembly and some relevant stakeholders like Civil Society Organisation and other Agencies.
The hearing was held with the support of USAID State Accountability, Transparency, and Effectiveness (STATE2STATE) Activity at the Nike Lake Resort, Enugu.
In attendance were key ministries including Ministries of Education, Health and Water Resources, Finance, Budget and Planning.
The speaker directed that all House Committees on the priority sectors including Public Accounts should liaise with all relevant bodies and authorities to identify and close all gaps in budget implementation in the state.
Odunwa commended USAID State2State for its activities in Ebonyi State which he said have greatly improved and impacted positively on both budget preparation and implementation in the state.
The Ebonyi State Team Lead of USAID State2State, Dr. Sam Onyia, noted that the programme was to review the performances of the budget, discuss the outcome and make recommendations for an improved budget implementation in Ebonyi State.
In a paper presentation on Ebonyi State Quarter 1 2024 Budget Performance on Priority sectors, the USAID State2State Citizens Engagement and Capacity Building Specialist and Facilitator of the programme, Munachiso Odulana, said that the review will enable the state government and stakeholders to monitor the allocation and utilisation of financial resources across the sectors and government entities.
The USAID Local Government Manager, Mrs Victoria Eze while speaking on resolutions from the last quarterly review said that more is needed to be done as it was observed that there were some sub-standard projects executed, vandalisation of educational structures, inadequate number of teachers and the need to have Primary Healthcare under one roof.
The Deputy Speaker of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Chinedu Onah, in a closing remarks, extolled the USAID State2State for making stakeholders in the priority sectors to sit up to their responsibilities.
He assured that members of the State House of Assembly will make use of what they have learnt to bring about changes in the state’s budget implementation.
