Again, Governor Umo Eno’s Administration Flouts Akwa Ibom State Budget Calendar, fails to Publish Complete 2024 Citizens’ Budget
By Ekemini Simon
The administration of Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State has again flouted the Akwa Ibom State Budget Calendar on publication of the complete 2024 Citizens’ Budget of the State.
A citizens’ budget is a public finance document that summarizes and explains basic budget information. It is a report to the people, presented in an accessible format using simple, clear language they understand.
According to the Standard budget calendar of Akwa Ibom State prepared and made public by the Fiscal Responsibility Board, the Citizens Budget is to be published within the first Quarter of the budget year which is between January to March 2024.
The Akwa Ibom State Budget Calendar shows that the Ministry of Economic Development is responsible for the publication.
Yet, the last scrutiny of the official website of Akwa Ibom State Budget Office by this reporter on Monday, May 27, 2024 shows that the March 31, 2024 deadline has been flouted for the publication of the Citizens Budget as it was not found on the website.
Although the Budget website is the official platform for the publication and has housed the Akwa Ibom State citizens budget since 2020, this reporter went further to check the website of the Responsible Ministry, Ministry of Economic Development. The check on the website did not turn out result of the citizens budget.
Checks at the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Finance Website did not also turn out result of the budget. However, a one pager of what was captioned as the citizens’ budget was found on the Official Website of the Akwa Ibom State Government without complete information of the budget provided. The one pager citizens budget only had information on the revenue source for 2024. The 2023 Citizens Budget of Akwa Ibom State was 61 pages and contained complete information on the budget.
Checks into Way back machine, a machine that gives insight on date and extended details of website reveals that the one pager was published on May 14, 2024 which is 44 days after the March 31, 2024 deadline.
The failure of the Government of Akwa Ibom State to publish the 2024 Citizens Budget in its standard for implies that the government has flouted the Budget Calendar, 57 days after deadline.
This will be the first time since 2020 that the Standard Budget Calendar came into force, the State government would fail to publish the Citizens’ Budget in line with the Akwa Ibom State Budget Calendar.
However, the trend of breaching the budget calendar by the administration of Governor Umo Eno commenced in November 2023 when the Governor presented the 2024 proposed budget in late November which was about a month after the stipulated October deadline as provided for by the Standard Budget Calendar.
The Akwa Ibom State Government had also failed to publish the 2024 Approved Budget within December 31, 2023. The government however published the Approved budget in late January 2024 after TheMail Newspaper in its report exposed how the Government of Akwa Ibom State flouted the Akwa Ibom State Budget Calendar on the publication of 2024 Approved Budget.
When TheMail Newspaper contacted the Commissioner for Economic Development, Emem Bob on why the Government flouted the Calendar on the 2024 Citizens’ Budget, he acknowledged that he had asked those tasked with the responsibility to publish the Citizens Budget to do so although he is aware that there were some challenges that hindered the publication.
He assured the newspaper that he will reach back to clarify what the challenges are after speaking with those directed to publish. The Commissioner however did not reach back and further attempt on Monday afternoon to get the clarification from the Commissioner was not productive as he told our reporter that he was at an event. The Commissioner did not reach back as at press time.