By CHARLES IWUOHA

Towards the preparation for the 2022 annual comprehensive report of government financial provisions, Ebonyi State residents have advocated for people-oriented budget, otherwise known as the ‘citizens’ budget’.

The Ebonyi residents who interacted with our correspondent in Abakaliki, the state capital, also called for the constitution of the budget performance and implementation committee in the year 2022.

This, according to the Senior Lecturer in the Political Science Department, Ebonyi State University, Dr Joseph Nkwede, will help to evaluate the extent of the implementation of the annual budget.

Nkwede who noted that though budgets have been presented by the governments for many years in the past, accused them of not implementing their items.

He explained that budget in governance parlance as “a comprehensive formal planning expressed in quantitative terms which describes the expected operations of an organization over a featured period of time.”

He said, beyond this, whether it is a national, state or local government, budget should be annual comprehensive report of government financial provision; which reviews old economic and social problems of the government and also anticipate the new ones.

He said that the budget should survey the future process of government financial status and translate the problems into goals or objectives.

“Now, having known the meaning of the budget, and we are looking at the 2022 and the areas of emphasis; looking at the situation Nigerians find themselves in terms of skyrocketing cost of living today in the country, one has to think that the 2022 budget should focus more on survival of Nigerians.

“What I mean by survival of Nigerians, is their welfares. Welfares of Nigeria people should be the first paramount in the next budget.

“Even though for over two decades now, any time we hear about budget, because it has become a current decimal, in any financial year, government raises the hope of Nigerians high through budget presentation with sugar coated nomenclatures such as; budget of hope, empowerment and consolidation, transformation, sustainability, restoration, caring heart, reformation, actualization, integrated development, sustained prosperity, partnership, advancement, commitment, etc.

“These are what government always captured as the headings of the year’s budget but our worries are that at the end of the day, the intended objectives of the budget not always actualized.

“Now, we are talking about where they should focus their attention on, we don't know whether government has actually known that people are suffering in this country. This should be the first time we are going to have a budget, because my worry is that we had no budget before now, that was actually implemented.

“That it is important that the mind of governments are conditioned to focus on the welfare of the citizens in terms of a pay package, infrastructure, education – making sure that institutions are working and should try as much as possible to reduce cost of governance and enhance other aspects of economic life,” Nkwede said.

The Senior Lecturer also called for the reduction of the cost of governance in the country and stressed further on non-implementation of the budget.

“There should be a reduction of the cost of governance if Nigeria wants to get things right as a country. Reducing the cost of governance, I mean that those in control of government power should not place much emphasis on consumables. Consumables in this regard means that the allowances of those at the National Assembly are garnering homes should have been used for other developmental activities other than that of the country constituency projects, among others.

“When you go to their constituencies, you will see what on ground there, is just virtually nothing. That is what I mean by the cost of governance. Begin to talk about the wardrobe allowance, the type of vehicle they are driving in, these are consumables which supposed to be converted for the developmental purposes.

“If the budgets we had so far in this country were fully implemented. Full implementation of the budget is that, each item ties to the area it supposed to be. If you budget amount of money, probably on education, you make sure that the fund is spent there, the impact will be felt by the people.

“Then, you go to agriculture – go into mechanisation and say this is the cost, you capture it in the budget. But if the items captured in the budget are not adequately implemented, it means that it has a zero impact on the citizens.

“Why is it having zero impact on the citizens to care for the overall development of the country and her citizens, because of the lack of political will, institutionalized corruption, and lack of accountability. Our budgets always end on paper, percentages are allocated and it doesn’t have any impact.”

Nkwede further suggested that “budget should be structured to dwell on implementation. When you do the paperwork, allocate certain percentages without matching on it action by action, how will it work out?

“The things that can make it have impact is after the paperwork, are credible leadership and good governance, avoidance of non- implementation, drastic reduction of the cost of governance especially on consumable items and value orientation of the political actors should be maintained.

“We should also have budget performance and implementation committee at all levels of the government, to evaluate the extent of the implementation of annual budget. That's only way we can do it and get it right.”

On his part, the Executive Director of Neighborhood Environment Watch Foundation (NEWF), Dr Kelechukwu Okozie, said that the emphasis on budget 2022 should be on consolidation, while advocating for the practical implementation of its items.

According to Okozie, “There are some activities the governments have embarked upon, being it on infrastructure, education, health, there is need for consolidation and even sustainability.

“Often times, budget provisions are made and have no even impact on people because it was not implemented accordingly.

“Let the focus on the budget be on sustainability, so that the people will begin to feel the impact. Let it be the budget of consolidation, sustainability and impact.

“The essence of budget is like a life-wire to the people. The budget should look at those critical need of the people. What are those things the people need and which budget now will address.

“Now, there’s poverty in the land. It’s not in disputes. A lot of houses are in disharmony. A lot of people can’t feed themselves. Let this budget be the budget in which people look up to, for total revitalization of their lives and businesses.

“Let the budget be the budget that the people will tap into to grow their initiatives. It should be a budget that will address issue of hunger in the land. It should be a budget that addresses health challenges in the land. Let the budget be the one to address problems of education, access to critical infrastructure in the water sector, among others.

“Let there be improvement in the life patterns of the people because they are really suffering economically, socially and otherwise. Let it be the budget that will guarantee people such hope that they can live on and things will be revitalized to have access to basic human needs.

“It should be people's oriented budget, because it must articulate the needs of the people. You know insecurity is an issue in the country. Hunger, access to quality health care, education, employment are all inclusively an issue in the country. So, the government should come up with a budget which people will be able to live in leverage level sustainably.

“The budget should be structured to have the desired impact on the lives of the people. The budget should be able to address the needs of the people. It should be a participatory budget. It should be inclusive budgeting. It should be a budget that includes every segment of the strata of the population.

“It should be a budget that gets its legitimate from the people. So any budget that is made, that is non-inclusive, not participatory is denying the people their basic rights, and access to their livelihoods.

“Let this budget be structured to have the basic needs of the people. And the best way to go is, asking them their needs. It’s not all about government telling people what it is going to do for them. Government should rather ask the people what they will like government to do for them and that’s all about democratic governance.

“I believe that the 2022 budget should be the citizens’ budget, because they will make their inputs. The government should take the needs of the vulnerable persons, men, women, children, the marginalized people and every segment of the society, so that these people can say this budget is our budget.”

Also, a staff of Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, Mr. Ignatius Ugbala; a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Barr Friday Agbom; Mrs. Eunice Oti, a staff of Ebonyi State Ministry of Lands and Survey, among others urged governments to ensure the 2022 budget is structured to have the desired impacts on the lives of Nigerians and corporate citizens especially in the areas of general welfare, security, employment, health, education, and agricultural advancement.

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