USAID State2state Facilitates CSOs Quarterly Meeting for Improved Service Delivery in Akwa Ibom
…Poor Funding of Service Sector Highlighted
By Ekemini Simon
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Nigeria State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness (State2State) Activity has facilitated a meeting for Civil Society Organisations in Akwa Ibom State to review progress on work done by the organizations towards improving the service delivery sectors (Basic Education, Primary Health and Water Sanitation and Hygiene).
The facilitation which took place in Uyo was a three-day CSOs quarterly meeting of CSOs across the sectors of interest of State2state.
State2State, since inception in Akwa Ibom state has continued to strengthen the capacity of Civil Society Organizations working in public financial management and service delivery sectors (Basic Education, Primary Health and WASH) toward more productive engagement with government and policy makers, while representing the citizens.
Following this development, CSO clusters have been established along these thematic areas for implementation of the various resolutions and actions.
In his welcome remarks, the Team Lead of State2state Activity in Akwa Ibom State, Borve Paago-Imabel commended the CSOs for their role in pushing for improved service delivery across the State.
Represented by the Local Government Manager, Dr. Iboro Nelson, she charged CSOs to take seriously their role of periodically reviewing quarterly reports from government and constructively engage relevant offices for improved service delivery.
In the presentation of the 2024 third quarter Budget Performance Report of Akwa Ibom State, CSOs noted the abysmal performance of the key sectors in the last nine months.
The report had shown low performance across the three sectors of Education, Health and WASH, with an overall utilization rate of 27.2 percent. The report highlighted that each sector has utilized less than 30 percent of its allocated budget, with the WASH sector being the lowest at only 15.4 percent.
The report had also pointed out that the administrative sector has enjoyed good performance.
The CSOs in their review said there is need for the Government of Akwa Ibom State to urgently prioritize the service sector just as it prioritizes spending on the administrative sector.
They said the same attention given to the administrative sector should be given to the key service sector in terms of releases.
The CSOs wondered why the key sectors will suffer despite the government having a N528.41bn balance left after expenses for the three quarter of January -September 2024.
Highlight of the quarterly meeting was a review implementation of CSOs Action Plans, follow up on inclusion of Community Charter of Demand projects in 2025 budgets, and review of the draft State M&E Policy. Additionally, the meeting further served to mainstream the 2024 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) with the theme “GBV in the Context of Climate Change.”