USAID State2State Holds Quarterly Engagement with Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly on Budget Performance, PFM
By Ekemini Simon
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness, (State2State) Activity in Akwa Ibom State has held a quarterly engagement with the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly on Budget Performance and Public Finance Management (PFM).
The 3-Day engagement which took place at Four Points by Sheraton Hotel Ikot Ekpene from Monday, March 25 through Wednesday March 27 had 26 members of the State Assembly, Clerk and the Deputy, Heads of Priority Sector of Health, Education, Water Sanitation and Hygiene coupled with participants from the various finance offices in the State.
In his remarks, the State Team Lead of State2State, Borve Paago-Imabel noted that the quarterly engagement on budget performance review is the second in the series of capacity strengthening interventions aimed at increasing the effectiveness of the oversight functions of the 8th Assembly.
He noted that the series focuses on core social services of primary health, basic education and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene-WASH, as well as the public financial Management dialogue which seeks to feature topical issues in the PFM ecosystem in the state thus the essence of the intervention bringing together the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and representatives of respective Ministries Departments and Agencies in the mentioned sectors.
Paago-Imabel commended the Speaker and the members of the Assembly for what he described as unequal representation which he said has demonstrated the Assembly’s commitment to deeping good governance in Akwa Ibom state.
He said this commitment is reflected in the recent second reading to the Bill which seeks to check discrimination against persons with disability, and the passage of the bill for the establishment of the State Bureau of Statistics are some key actions in this direction.
The State Team Lead called on the Assembly to do more in its oversight roles to ensure that budgets are more responsive to citizens’ needs especially in ensuring increased allocation and pursuing releases for the core service sectors and citizens nominated projects in the annual budgets.
Also speaking, the USAID State2State Chief of Party, Irene Karimi thanked the government of Akwa Ibom State for the support given to its activities.
Represented by the State2State Public Finance Management Technical Director, Dr. Olugbenga Oyewole, the Chief of Party assured the State that State2State will continue to give technical support for improvements in public finance management and the key sectors.
Karimi called on the State government to develop the culture of preparing credible budgets, release funds especially to the Primary Healthcare, Education and Water Sanitation and Hygiene sector, and monitor the effective utilisation of the funds so that lives can be effectively touched in the State.
On his part, the Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Udeme Otong thanked State2State for the training and assured that the Assembly will embrace the action points identified during the training.
In his remarks, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Eno thanked State2State for its interventions in Akwa Ibom State since 2021.
Represented by the Deputy Governor, Sen. Akon Eyakenyi, the Governor said the priority sectors of Education, Health and WASH are cardinal to the administration governance blueprint as encapsulated in its ARISE agenda.
He said as a government which believes in accountability and transparency, the intervention by State2State easily resonates with the administration.
Governor Eno explained that the State government is poised to improve education, healthcare and WASH hence the reason it is building model schools across the State, and inclusion of the provision of uniform sandals to its free and compulsory education.
He said some primary healthcare projects have commenced even as he has charged the Ministry of Water Resources to look into reforming the WASH sector.
He added ” To sustain the drive and maximize the benefits of these policies, we must put in place appropriate institutional frameworks while equipping our human resources. It behooves the executive and legislature with requisite skills to play their role optimally.
” I am particularly interested in the objective of this engagement which has to do with the review of the quarterly budget implementation as it affects health, education and WASH. The feedback will help us identify potential pitfalls, make timely amends and consolidate in the subsequent quarters in the provision of the 2024 budget. This budget is very important because it is the first by our administration and which will define our developmental trajectory in the years ahead.”
Governor Eno assured State2State of the continued commitment of the State Government towards the actualisation of improved funding of the three sectors.
He assured that in the administration’s drive to entrench good governance and significantly improve the performance of government, his administration will not overlook fiscal responsibility stressing that the administration will be absolutely intentional about plucking all loopholes and maximizing scarce resources.
“The Governor noted that to achieve its plan there is need for capacity building of finance managers, reviews of their performances hence the administration will rely on State2State and other partners for the capacity building.