The Kaduna State Government has mandated its Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to engage Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Community Based Organisations (CBOs), and relevant stakeholders in the 2021 budget preparation process.
Mr Thomas Gyang, the Commissioner, Planning and Budget Commission, gave the mandate in the 2021 to 2023 Multi-year Budget Call Circular to the MDAs, obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Wednesday.
According to him, engaging the CSOs, CBOs and relevant stakeholders will give room for community participation in the budget process, in line with the principle of Open Government Partnership.
Gyang, however, said that the inputs from the engagements should be in line with the aspirations of the state government as contained in the revised State Development Plan (SDP).
He noted that given the fiscal circumstances of the state, financial resources would be strictly dedicated to enable the government to respond adequately to the prevailing challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He added that the budget would be designed to safeguard the lives of citizens in the short term, while meeting the objectives outlined in the revised SDP in the medium term.
The commissioner called on the MDAs to prioritise identified 2021 COVID-19 interventions, ongoing projects and ensure that new projects aligned with the goal of the revised SDP.
He noted that the 2021 budget should also adhere to key fiscal objectives outlined by Gov. Nasir El-Rufa’i’s administration.
He stated that “the budget should focus on ensuring the actualisation of the development priorities of the government as articulated in the revised SDP.
“It should maintain favourable proportion of 60 per cent capital and 40 per cent recurrent expenditure and ensure adequate provision of 2020 projects likely to be completed in 2021.
“It will maintain the expanded revenue generating capacity of the state and eliminate wastages and other unjustifiable expenditure that are not clearly linked to policy objectives.
“Inclusion of new projects must be strictly in line with the revised SDP objectives after considering all ongoing projects.”
He added that the MDAs budget should reflect the state’s drive for a realistic and feasible budget, based on the economic and financial update of the country and key fiscal objectives.
He advised the MDAs against presenting over-ambitious budgets as previous budget implementation rates provided ample evidence of absorptive capacity issues and the revenue generating capacity of the state.
“MDAs are advised to ensure that all ongoing projects that are unlikely to be completed and paid for in the 2020 are captured in their 2021 Budget.
“New projects should not be integrated into the 2021 budget except priority projects of utmost importance.
“Where ongoing projects exceed ceilings, they should be spread between 2022 to 2023 columns of the multi-year budget.”
He reiterated the state’s desire to produce a realistic and implementable multi-year budget for the 2021-2023 period and always.
