Groups task Kogi Govt. to increase resources for OGP commitments

The Initiative for Grassroot Advancement, (INGRA) Nigeria and the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room has called on the Kogi State Government to allocate more resources on the commitments for Open Government Partnership, (OGP).

The group made the call on Thursday at a one day dissemination meeting of the Kogi State 2024 budget analysis to the Open Government Partnership, (OGP) organized by the Initiative for Grassroot Advancement in Nigeria, (INGRA) in partnership with Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room in Lokoja.

The Executive Director of INGRA Hamza Aliyu decried the poor resources allocated for the commitments of OGP in Kogi State stressing that, there is need for improvement which is in line with the initiative of OGP aimed at promoting transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.

Explaining reasons why the Kogi State Government should allocate more resources for OGP commitments, Aliyu said " The main objective of this one day activities is to analyze the 2024 Kogi State revised budget and extract the component that has to do with OGP. 

"We feel that we need to extract that aspect of it to bring out this commitments and see if this commitments aligns with the that of the OGP and see how much of that money was budgeted for and how we can be able to track them subsequently using the Kogi State House of Assembly in knowing the expenditures in this commitments areas.

"The OGP has four thematic areas which are fiscal transparency, access to Information, service delivery and extractive Sector Transparency. The five commitments under this thematic areas are enhance citizens participation in the State budget cycle, strengthen public procurement processes in Kogi State, Improve Citizens Access to Government Held Information and Records.

"Others commitments are Improve Service Delivery in Kogi State through the introduction of service compact and Work together with relevant stakeholders towards enhancing healthy well-being of mining host communities.

"Now, we are looking at the quantum of resources that was allocated to the OGP commitments and we observed that it is a little bit small in terms of size. But of course, this is the first time the State is doing this so we can appreciate the State Government but we are saying we need to improve the amount of resources we are putting

"Again looking at the comparison between the amount of money that was spent on OGP which has to do with Citizens and their engagement, we are also comparing it with the amount of money that has been spent by the state as a whole and we are saying it is really small again.

" Going forward, we need to increase this percentage between the resources given to commitment and OGP which is what Citizens are expecting and then the expenditure Government it self in other areas of recurrent and over head expenses. We are saying they need to increase this resources going forward.

" One commitment that stands out is that of extractive industry transparency. There is a commitment that they need to work with communities in the extractive industry which is the coal mine, Obajana community to be able to discuss issues around environment pollution and how it affects the Citizens and the amount allocated to Ministries, Department and Agencies, (MDA's) by the Government. So we are very happy about that one. 

"We saw a commitment around the office of the head of Service which talks about establishing the serve compact office which we have like SERVICOM at the Federal level. It talks about issues around qualities of service from MDA's and how Citizens feel about those services. So we are happy that money is being allocated for capacity building. 

"Most importantly, is the areas of Citizens engagement. We have seen that there is a commitment from the House of Assembly as money were prepared for budget hearing which means that there is this continued culture of engagement with Citizens at the State level especially by the hallow chamber. 

"Citizens must be involved in the budget process and must increase the engagement capacity of citizen at all levels. This are commitment we have seen that we are very happy with".

In his paper presentation on analysis on the revised 2024 budget of Kogi State, the Chairperson, Kogi NGO- Network (KONGONET) Amb. Idris Ozovehe Muraina argued that the Kogi state 2024 approved revised budget offers promising signs regarding the state's commitment to Open Government Partnership plans.

He opined that the allocation of N165,100,000 across key ministries, department, and agencies (MDA's) suggests a deliberate move by the Kogi State Government to focus on achieving positive results.

"The Kogi State 2024 approved revised budget indicates a positive step towards increased transparency and citizens participation. Continued efforts towards implementing these initiatives through fund releases and ensuring public access to information will be crucial for Kogi State to fully realize the benefits of OGP members" he stated.

Continuing, he said " this revised budget contains items from the OGP State action plans. Kogi State signed up in 2022 and inaugurated the State steering committee in 2024. So far, they have been able to finalize and validate the State action plan. 

"The State action plan is the commitment of the State to the people. It has four thematic areas, five special commitment to the state. The State Government has gone ahead to include it in it budget and created a budget line for the four thematic areas and the five commitment. 

"A total of N165, 100,000 was budgeted across all the five commitment for the State. For us, we have done the analysis and we have given our own comment that we appreciate the fact that the budget is in line with all the thematic areas and commitments of Government on OGP. What is left now is release of funds, and implementation".

He expressed satisfaction with the level the Government has gone with OGP in Kogi State. According to him "This is a learning space for us. We are just starting up. We have not done anything of this nature before. For the State to say look in our reviewed budget, we want to reflect it, we are happy because we have started with a babies step, there is room for improvement.

"The total commitment of the State Government is less than one percent of the total budget of the State. For us, we are always appreciative of every steps made in developing or adding to the well being of the people. We hope that they start by implementing the 0.05 percent before we get to a time we will start getting 30 to 50 percent by the people as a commitment by the State Government on Open Government Partnership.

Our Kogi State Correspondent, reports that Muraina recommended capacity building for government agencies, enhance oversight and monitoring mechanism, and continued stakeholders engagement and collaboration to meet up with the set goals of Open Government Partnership in Kogi State.

Earlier in his remarks, the Executive Director, Conscience for Human Rights and Conflict Resolutions, (CHRCR) Comrade Idris Miliki lamented that citizens are not privilege to engage budget after it has been passed by the State House of Assembly.

He noted that budget is an important component of Government which should not be taken for granted, adding that, the Kogi State House of Assembly has failed to meet up to their expectations in engaging the Non-State actors on oversight function after budget has been passed. 

"About 56 billion of supplementary budget was passed without the Citizens input. The State Assembly illegally extended the tenure of Local Government Caretaker Chairmen. There is illegality in the face illegitimacy by the Kogi State House of Assembly. It is highly condemnable. You can not tell Kogi people you dont have money to conduct local government election. 

"In February 14 billion came to Kogi State after the former Governor left office and N6.6billion for Local Government came to Kogi State. N7.5billion also came to the State. In the last five month, the same Assembly did not know what came to Kogi State and they are saying the only reason they gave approval to extend the tenure of Caretaker Chairmen was due to lack of funds.

"For the past six month, has the assembly members visited any Local Government for oversight function to ask what was approved by the assembly and how much was released and used? The answer is No. The current Assembly should visit the 21 Local Government to ascertain the level of development. We can not continue to keep quiet. I have been denied from voting my counsellor in my ward, and my Chairman in my Local Government due to this extension of the tenure of Caretaker Chairmen"Miliki lamented.

Also speaking, the Executive Director, Challenged Parenthood Initiative, (CPI) Eunice Abimbola Agbogun while commending INGRA for the good work they are doing stressed the need for transparency and accountability in governance.

She said "INGRA has done a very good job to simplify the relationship in terms of co-creation between Government and the Civic-space. For us to be able to move forward and make impact we need to engage with the Government constantly. I think INGRA has made that possible in all their activities that they started since last year. 

"The need for accountability, transparency, and engaging together is very key either for legislatures, executive or Citizens. I think this is the whole essence of what INGRA has been able to do through this project of letting the Citizens of the State participate in issues around budgeting.

" They have succeeded in informing the Citizens what exactly is in the budget and how they can be part of the process from the beginning to the final stage. INGRA has been able to do that and am very optimistic that this will go a long way for the development of our dear State".

It was learnt that the one day dissemination meeting of the Kogi State 2024 budget analysis to the Open Government Partnership, (OGP) organized by the Initiative for Grassroot Advancement in Nigeria, (INGRA) in partnership with Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room had in attendance representatives of Civil Society, Kogi State House of Assembly, religious leaders amongst others.

Highpoint of the event is the unveiling of Kogi State commitment to Open Government Partnership, (OGP), a review of the Kogi State 2024 budget approved revised budget, OGP-related budgetary allocations by INGRA and Nigeria Civil Society Room.

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