Femi Mustapha
Kaduna state Ministry of Local Government affairs has assured Local government accountability Mechanism (LGAM) of its willingness to partner with it in the forthcoming Public Policy Dialogue on strengthening Local government Fiscal sustainability and delivery in Kaduna state.
The Commissioner of the Ministry, Shehu Usman Muhammed gave the assurance when he received delegates from the Local government Accountability Mechanism who are in his office to seek the ministry collaboration for the Success of the dialogue.
Speaking earlier, the leader of LGAM delegation, Yusuf Goje, commended the commissioner for its Commitment to transparency and accountability, which he demonstrated by creating Kaduna Education accountability Mechanism when he was in charge of ministry of education.
He explained that the LGAM was co-created by Ministry for Local government affairs and Civil society partners with support from the Partnership, to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) in 2019 which lead to technical working group in all the 23 Local governments of the state.
Goje stressed that 50% of the 23 Local Government budgets are been informed by the community Development Charter (CDC), however, expressed dismay that the actual performance in term of budget releases is no more than 30% due to low revenue generation.
In view of the above, he said the Public Policy Dialogue is to reflect on the successes, gaps and lessons of the current local government fiscal space and service delivery
“To brainstorm on new strategies towards improving revenue collection and timely remittance to the local governments
“To agree on collective action in strengthening transparency and community participation in the local government budget and procurement processes;
“To set-up a State-level Technical Working Group on Local Government Accountability Mechanism (LGAM); and
“To unveil Local Government Accountability Mechanism (LGAM) champions to drive the campaign for more participatory, transparent, accountable and responsive local government administration”.
He further explained to the commissioner that the targeted Participants are drawn from the Government, Members of LGAM, Civil Society organizations, Academia and Media.
In his response, the Commissioner, Shehu Usman Muhammed lauded the Accountability Mechanism efforts in ensuring transparency, saying, Kaduna state as an OGP state is not limited to the state but also at the local government level.
He assured the delegation that the Ministry will have all support to ensure success of the Public Policy Dialogue.
