State2state Holds Budget Performance Review Workshop with AKHA for Improved Spending to Service Sector
By Ekemini Simon
The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly in partnership with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Nigeria State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness (State2State) Activity have held a quarterly budget performance review workshop with select Ministries Departments and Agencies of Government towards improved performance in the service sector of Primary Healthcare, Basic Education, and Water Sanitation and Hygiene.
The training which was held recently at Four Point by Sheraton Hotel, Ikot Ekpene follows a series of technical support to the State Assembly on legislative oversight.
In his welcome remarks, the State2state State Team Lead, Borve Paago-Imabel said the workshop is designed to strengthen the capacity of the State House of Assembly to manage budget performance review track and analyse budget implementation results and progress covering January-September 2024 in key sectors.
He said the workshop is geared towards tracking Community Needs Projects across constituencies in the state; document key achievements of the 2024 budget so far, identify and discuss key challenges, lessons and make recommendations for successful implementation of sectoral budgets of the priority sectors in the last quarter of the year including Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) responsive projects.
Paago-Imabel added ” It is interesting that we have held this review for the first two quarters. The last review meeting gave us the opportunity to establish the status performance from the key MDAs of Health, Education and WASH
“The key objective of this meeting is to enable us to reach a point where we know the exact status of budget performance under the oversight functions of the House of Assembly. We are glad to note that this House has consistently shown commitment to improve in their three roles of law making, oversight and representation and we in State2state have taken upon ourselves to support the oversight role.”
The State Team Lead said in their bid to strengthen the Public Finance Management of the State, after working together with the Office of the Accountant General and the State Fiscal Responsibility Board, they were able to take delivery of the reviewed State financial instructions.
He said State2state has also built the capacity of select local government areas in the State to uptake the National Chart of Account in preparing their budget.
The State Team Lead said to bolster the capacity of the State Assembly in their oversight responsibility, State2state has designed a plan to build their capacity on budget analysis.
He called on the State Lawmakers to ensure they increase the budget for the key sectors as contained in the 2025 budget. Paago-Imabel also asked the State Assembly to provide for the funding of TB programming in the 2025 budget so that the State can battle the weight of TB infection in the State.
He further called on the State Assembly to ensure the functionality of the State Budget Website thus enhancing transparency and inclusiveness of the people in their activities.
In his address, the Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Udeme Otong thanked State2state for the continued budget performance review workshop.
He said through the workshop, their skills have been sharpened and it has resulted in the State Assembly championing accountability through legislative oversight. These workshops have ensured that we effectively discharge our duties. We can confidently tell you that all our committees have engaged the various MDAs.
“State2state has done well by equipping us with the necessary skills and tools. Our pledge is that we will continue to carry out our responsibility and also support the work of USAID State2state in the State.”