By Danjuma Attah, Gombe
Akko Local Government Area of Gombe State under the Chairmanship of Mohammed Danladi Adamu, has commenced the collation of demands from it’s people at the grassroots in preparation for a citizens centred 2025 budget.
The process began during a town hall consultative stakeholders meeting that brought together representatives from all the eleven wards and the three Emirates in the Local Government in preparation for the estimates.
Representative of People With Disabilities (PWD), youth and women groups, traditional and religious leaders as well as associations and NGO’s were part of the meeting where they made several demands as part of their inputs to the LG budget.
Comrade Idris Maigari Lawanti, Chairman of the Association of Non-Governmental Association (ANGO), Gombe State, decried the lukewarmness of people in making inputs towards the budget now that the State has moved into a citizens model of budgets.
He however commended the Local Government authorities for creating an enabling environment for the people at the grassroots to voice out their demands in the coming budget.
He thanked the USAID backed State-to-State for advocating the citizens centred budget and the Gombe State Government for keying into the initiative. He also urged the people to ensure strict monitoring of the projects captured in the budget.
In his goodwill message, the Director of Budget in the State ministry of budget and planning, Mohammed Adamu, emphasized that Gombe State has keyed into the world standard of budgeting which is citizens centred.
According to him, gone were the days when Government draw up it’s budget without inputs from the people stressing that the State Ministry of Budget and Planning is ready to support the Local Government as it’s doors are always open.
Hajiya Zariyatu Abubakar, Manager, Local Governments, State-to-State, said in it’s efforts to ensure the continuation of the initiative, State-to-State secured the commitment of all the Local Government Chairmen, Secretaries and Treasurers during a meeting.
According to her, State-to-State main objective is to create awareness and has special interest in projects in the areas of education, health and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).
She however expressed worry over non implementation of projects captured in the budget charging the people to seek accountability for projects not executed. She also tasked women, youths, PWD’s, to voice out their demands to be included in the budget.
Chairman of Akko LGA, Mohammed Danladi Adamu, described all the people that attended the engagement as critical stakeholders of the LGA and assured that all their inputs into the budget will be captured.
He said, the State Government under Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has already laid a template through his performance and that Akko local administration will key into it for the growth and development of the LGA.
While commending the efforts of the budget and planning department, the chairman rolled out different approaches to governance that the local administration hopes to embark upon for the benefit of the entire LGA in the coming year.
Highlight of the engagement included a review of the performance of this year’s budget as well as the collation of inputs from all the communities represented through the citizens charter demand (CCD).
