The Delta Commissioner for Economic Planning, Dr. Barry Gbe, has urged the people of Delta State to engage their elected and appointed representatives in government to make inputs in the 2022 budget.
Gbe stated this at the citizen’s budgeting interactive virtual session in Asaba, hosted by the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Delta on Civic Engagement and Civil Society.
The commissioner, who gave a brief overview of the intention of the state government on the proposed 2022 budget, noted that the focus was more on medium term planning, as against short term or annual budget planning.
He said that the legislature and the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) would also have key inputs in the budget and that the people should ensure that their representatives in government were truly representing them.
Gbe commended all those who attended the event and expressed the hope that such meetings could lead to the creation of the budget of the people, truly reflective of their yearnings.
In his remarks, Mr Rex Anighoro, Senior Special Assistant to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on Civic Engagement and Civil Society, said that the citizen’s budgeting process is a novel governance practice in Nigeria, adding that the state government must be commended for the Initiative.
Some civil society organisations which attended the event called for the state government intervention in the areas of providing safe spaces for victims of gender-based violence, and subsidised sun-screen for albinos in the state.
They also advocated a budget line for the office of civic engagement and civil society as well as the programmes to drive Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the state.
They called for more private sector involvement by undertaking intervention projects since the government cannot do it alone, and advocated for the urgent passage of the Delta State Corporate Social Responsibility bill.
They said that the bill when passed would help compel the private sector to live up to their corporate social responsibilities in the state.
They urged the SSA to the governor to extend similar invitations to other Commissioners and MDAs for robust engagement.
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