Kwara 2021 Budget: BBYDI Calls For Open Citizens’ Engagement In Senatorial Districts

Brain Builders Youth Development Initiative (BBYDI), a Non-Governmental Organization has called for open citizens engagement on Kwara state government budget in three senatorial districts.

BBYDI made this call on Monday in virtual citizens engagement in preparation for 2021 budget.

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Full Position of BBYDI

Brain Builders Youth Development Initiative (BBYDI), a Non-Governmental Organization that advocates for good governance, transparency and accountability continues to engage the government and make demands that focus on meeting the needs of citizens.

In 2019, BBYDI carried out an analysis of the Kwara State budget and published our findings and recommendations in the media.

One of our recommendations last year was for the government to engage citizens openly on the state’s budget through a Senatorial District Model – a model that covers all senatorial districts in the state. This will allow citizens to contribute to the preparation of the budget and make recommendations that can address lingering issues. We are glad that this recommendation was implemented this year as the state government organized an open citizen engagement on the budget.

Our team attended the event via the Zoom platform and we made further recommendations for the government as they begin to work on the next budget. Here are the proposed recommendations:
In previous budgets, we noticed inconsistences in the market price of items and the proposed prices in the budget. We urge the state government to look into this and ensure that accurate figures are given this time.
The government should be open to, willing to provide clarifications on item lines in budget in cases when they are not explicit. This we believe will promote transparency.

There have been reports of MDAs spending above budgeted allocations. This raises questions on accountability and we hope that the governments check this and prevent reoccurrences.
Civil Society Organisations should be engaged as a part of the M and E officer to track budget implementation.
Government should leverage technology to monitor projects remotely.

Our hope is that the state governments considers these recommendations in its plans to move the state forward. We also look forward to further engagements between the government and citizens.