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HomeBudget performance: Stakeholders commend Nwifuru, DIG over improvement -From- Paulinus Ogbonna
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Budget performance: Stakeholders commend Nwifuru, DIG over improvement -From- Paulinus Ogbonna

Stakeholders in Ebonyi on Wednesday in Abakaliki commended Gov. Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi for ensuring improved budget performance in ministries, departments and agencies of government.

The stakeholders comprising state legislators, officials of ministries and institutions in Ebonyi made the commendation during a mid-year budget performance review meeting.

The meeting was organised by the Civil Society Situation Room (CSSR) in partnership with Development Integrity Goal (DIG) Foundation with support from United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

The review meeting was attended by Mr Godwin Abiri, chairman, Ebonyi House of Assembly Committee on Public Account, committee members and other lawmakers as well as key representatives of ministries, departments and agencies.

The centred discussions mainly on the current status of fund releases to MDAs with particular reference to the social sectors: Health, Education, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).

Mr Samson Okoro and Daniel Itumo of the College of Nursing Science and Midwivery, Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area and College of Health Science Technology, Ngbo in Ohaukwu LGA said that the governor had brought relief to the institution.

According to Itumo, his institution since 2007 it was established has not accessed any fund from their budget except under Gov. Nwifuru who recently released the sum of N27 million to them.

He noted that the fund helped them so much in their pursuit for accreditation and expressed optimism that more funds would be released to them soonest.

Okoro in his submission said that his institution was not getting anything before even when they applied for release of their statutory allocation.

A cross section of members of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly Committee on Public Account.

“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 should be receiving One million naira every month as overhead.
“Also, out of N150 million approved capital budget, we have accessed N16 million so far which we have used judiciously.”
Mr Emmanuel Agbafor, Director, Planning, Research and Statistics in the Ministry of Education 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.
He said that released fund was part of the fund for the establishment of 39 Model Schools across the state, with three per local government area at the cost of N172 million each.
He added that the sum of over N14.3 million has also been released for schools rehabilitation.
On her part, Mrs Mary Akam, the Head, Planning, Research and Statistics in the ministry of Water Resources said that, out of the ministry’s approved budget of N1.3 billion, it accessed over N613 million in first quarter of 2024.
She added that the Governor has also released the sum of over N490 million and over N498 million respectively for the ongoing Ivo water scheme and the rehabilitation of the old Abakaliki water scheme.
Akam also noted that the approved budget of N200m for the Ebonyi State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency has been released 100 per cent.
“So far we have been having favour from the governor , in this second quarter, things have tremendously changed for good,” she said.

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 have been brought into their Agencies.
They attributed the development to the political will of the governor and the results of the campaigns by DIG foundation and other Civil Society Organizations in the State.
Chief Oliver Aja , Executive Director of the foundation had earlier stated that the objectives of the meeting were to offer heads of MDAs opportunity to interact with the House of Assembly Committee on Public Account on issues affecting them.
He said the meeting would also discuss issues around budget releases to social sector MDAs as well as address accountability and poor performance issues through legislative oversight functions.

Presenting the 2nd quarter budget performance report as published by the State government, Ajah observed that there were still much gaps in capital budget performance data for most MDAs, especially for Agencies under the Ministries.

Taking the capital budget for health, for instance, Ajah observed that the Ministry of Health received added performance of N122 million in the 2nd quarter as against N9m of 1st quarter.

He however regretted that apart from the Ebonyi State Health Insurance Agency which received N41,164,312.70 in the 1st quarter representing only 9 per cent 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 the Governor, appreciated DIG Foundation for its campaign which has continued to bring to the fore germane issues surrounding the budget and public expenditure of the State.

They noted that the advocacy have yielded much results and pledged to employ their oversights, 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.” ENDS//

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