From Sola Ojo,
In its continuous accountability drive, Connected Development (CODE), otherwise known as Follow The Money, has secured the support and cooperation of the leadership of the 23 local government areas of Kaduna State through the Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy.
CODE had earlier visited, solicited support and cooperation of the Kaduna State Government as it tracks N6.4 billion federal constituency projects in the state, which are contained in the 2020 and 2021 federal budgets.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CODE, Hamzat Lawal who paid a courtesy call on the Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs during a meeting with the 23 local government chairmen told journalists outside the meeting hall that the partnership became necessary to ease his team’s tracking of the federal projects spread across the state.
According to him, the partnership was coming through CODE’s social accountability initiative; ‘Follow The Money’ designed to ensure effective implementation of people-oriented projects for which public funds have been budgeted.
“The National Assembly recently voted in favour of local government autonomy. So there is a need to ensure that beyond the legal and regulatory framework, CODE moves ahead to ensure effective implementation of the local government autonomy to ensure resources are directly put into their accounts.
“So, CODE will in collaboration with the 23 local government Chairmen be setting the pace to initiate reforms that will promote government transparency, accountability and citizens’ participation in the Local government budgeting system.
“It is time both the electorate and civil society organisations began to demand good governance from those elected into office especially those in the local government areas especially now that we are at the peak of the 2023 electioneering activities.
Earlier Commissioner, Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy, Shehu Usman Muhammad remarked during the visit that, his Ministry was ready to work with accountability partners to track the effectiveness of project implementation at local government levels where transparency can further be enhanced within grassroots communities.