Government Ministries and institutions in Ebonyi State have commended Governor Francis Nwifuru over the improvement in the 2024 State’s second quarter budget performance.
This was part of the outcome of a mid-year budget performance review held on Monday in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
The session was initiated by the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room in partnership with Development and Integrity Intervention Goal Foundation, a Civil Society Organisation, with support from the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
It brought together the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, members and other legislators in a roundtable with key representatives of Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
Discussions focused mainly on the current status of fund releases to MDAs with particular reference to the social sectors: Health, Education as well as Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.
Speaking on the health sector, the representatives of the State College of Health Sciences and Technology, Ngbo in Ohaukwu Local Government Area, Daniel Itumo, and his counterpart from the College of Nursing and Midwifery in Uburu, Ohaozara, Sampson Okoro, said Nwifuru has brought a lot of relief to the institutions, which were grossly starved of fund before now.
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Itumo explained that his institution, since 2007 when it was established, has not accessed any fund from their budget except under Governor Nwifuru, who recently released the sum of N27 million to them.
He noted that it helped them so much in their pursuit for accreditation and expressed optimism that more funds would be released to them soonest.
Okoro said: “We were not getting anything before even when we apply.
“Today, the governor has brought a very big relief to us, especially with prompt response.
“Within 24 hours, application for funds are attended to.
“Out of the N15 million recurrent budget approved for us, we have already accessed N5 million as the governor has made it statutory that we would be receiving N1 million every month as overhead.
“Also, out of N150 million approved capital budget, we have accessed N16 million so far, which we have used judiciously.”
Speaking on Education, the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics in the Ministry, Emmanuel Agbafor, explained that out of their total approved capital budget of over N8.1 billion, the governor has approved the release of over N 6.7 billion, part of the fund for the establishment of 39 model schools across the State with three per local government area at N172 million each.
He added that the sum of over N14.3 million has also been released for schools rehabilitation.
Mary Akam, the Head, Planning, Research and Statistics in the Ministry of Water Resources, also said out of the Ministry’s approved budget of N1.3 billion, it accessed over N613 million in the first quarter of 2024.
Akam added that Nwifuru has also released over N490 million and over N498 million for the ongoing Ivo water scheme and rehabilitation of the old Abakaliki water scheme.
She also noted that the approved budget of N200 million for the Ebonyi State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency has been released 100 percent.
She added: “So far so good, we have been having favour from the governor.
“In this second quarter, things have tremendously changed for good.”
Others who spoke, including the Executive Secretary, State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Philip Ovuoba, and the representative of Ebonyi State Health Insurance Agency, said a lot of improved performance has been brought into their agencies, attributing them to the political will of the Governor and the results of the campaigns by DIG Foundation and other Civil Society Organisations in the state.
The Executive Director, DIG Foundation, Oliver Chima Aja, had earlier stated that the objectives of the meeting were to offer Heads of MDAs the opportunity to interact with the House of Assembly Committee on Public Accounts on issues affecting them, discuss issues around Budget releases to social sector MDAs as well as address accountability and poor performance issues through legislative oversight functions.
Presenting the second quarter budget performance report as published by the state government, Ajah observed that there were still gaps in capital budget performance data for most MDAs, especially for agencies under the ministries.
Taking the capital budget for health, for instance, he observed that the Ministry of Health received added funds of N122 million in the second quarter as against N9 million in the first quarter.
He regretted that apart from the Ebonyi State Health Insurance Agency, which received N41,164,312.70 in the first quarter, representing only 9 percent of its capital budget of N470 million, no other agency from the publication, under health, including the State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, has received anything from their capital budgets.
Meanwhile, some participants believed that some releases must have been made after compilation of data for the quarter.
In their separate remarks, the Assembly Committee Chairman on Public Account, Godwin Abiri, and his Health counterpart, Esther Agwu, while commending Governor Nwifuru, appreciated DIG Foundation for its campaign, which they said has continued to bring to the fore germane issues surrounding the budget and public expenditure of the State.
They noted that the advocacy had yielded much results and pledged to employ their oversight, in partnership with the organisation, to catalyse further improvements for the good of the State.
Abiri said: “We have gained a lot from DIG, and I advise and plead with you to continue doing what you know how to do best.
“You have armed us very well to discharge our functions.
“Each time we interact with you, we go home better off.”
