The United States Agency for International Development, USAID, has engaged stakeholders in Ebonyi State, South East Nigeria in a 3-day work plan consultative meeting and workshop, for the fifth year of its activities in the state.
Summitnews reports that the meeting held at the Nike Lake Resort Hotel, Enugu was at the instance of the Agency’s State2State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness Activity, and aims to review previous interventions, assess progress results towards the achievement of set goals and also update key areas of interest in the state.
The 3-day workshop was also targeted at the review of the 2024 work plan implementation, including achievements, challenges and lessons learnt, with a view to equip stakeholders with necessary guidance on state-level priority interventions for the coming 5th year.
The meeting was also designed to review data and information gathered in the previous year, identify current reform as well as sustainability gaps and challenges, and gather critical imputs from stakeholders for the Agency’s State2State 2025 work plan, even as it will help in identifying priority intervention areas for the 5 year work plan.
In his remarks, the Ebonyi State Team Leader of USAID State2State Activity, Dr Sam Onyia, emphasised that the meeting was also to review their activities in the state, just as they step into the 5th year of their activities in the state by October, this year.
According to him, “it is necessary for us to review our activities in the state in the 4th year, as a step towards planning for the 5th year.”
Dr Onyia noted that the main significance of the workshop was to identify the importance of consolidation, sustainability and institutionalisation of the reforms that have been supported by the State2State Activity.
Declaring the workshop open, the Ebonyi State Commissioner for Grants and Donor Agencies, Chief Solomon Azi, said that as the 5th year would conclude the State2State Activity in Ebonyi State, efforts should be geared towards prioritising the promotion of economic growth and prosperity of the state, by ensuring sustainability of the programmes and policies of the State2State Activity.
The commissioner observed that USAID through the State2State initiative, has helped in reshaping the future of Ebonyi people, adding that it also aims at ensuring ownership and sustainability of it’s programmes.
In an address, the Auditor General of Ebonyi State, Dr Samuel Udu, implored participants at the workshop to emphasise more on the work plan for the 5th year, as according to him, this could be used to close the gaps already identified.
His words, “I urge you all to place emphasis on the work plan for the 5th year, and I commend the State2State for it’s support in our budget development and procurement of manuals in our State.”
The Secretary of the Ebonyi State Universal Basic Education Board, UBEB, Dr Livinus Ezeuwa and Permanent Secretary of the state’s Ministry of Budget and Planning, Mrs Mfon Williamson, commended the State2State for aiding Ebonyi State to prepare formidable budget that have helped to attend to the needs of the citizens of the state over the years.
Rendering an update on the implementation of State Transformation Committee, STC, the highest organ for promoting reforms at State2State, a Communication Specialist, Nneka Acholonu Egbuna, said the STC has supported critical transformation as well as engagements with the present administration in the state, including sensitisation of the citizens, reactivation of the open government partnership, OGP and increased the state’s tax payers data base.
In a paper tittled “Midline Assessments in Ebonyi State,” the State2State Local Government Manager, Mrs Victoria Eze, recommended bi-annual local government dialogue, supported by the operationalisation of the local government autonomy, through capacity building on budget preparation and the introduction of service delivery tracking advocacy.
The State2State Public Finance Management Specialist, Mr Chibueze Nwonye and the Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist, Ejiro Okotie also presented papers at workshop.
The 3-day workshop witnessed plenary and technical sessions, where participants were divided into groups, while observations and suggestions for the 5th year work plan were raised.
