From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
An accountability group, Connected Development (CODE), otherwise known as Follow The Money, had begun tracking of 2020 and 2021 constituency projects worth N6.4 billion in Kaduna State.
To make this a seamless exercise, CODE sought the support and cooperation of the respective ministries, departments and agencies of Kaduna State Government during the tracking activities.
CODE CEO Hamza Lawal specifically pleaded for the state’s cooperation when the budget tracking non-governmental organization paid advocacy visits to the state’s Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and Kaduna Capital Territory Authority (KCTA).
Represented by his Project Manager, Kingsley Agu, Hamza said, the Federal Government budgets N100 billion for constituency projects across the the country annually, hence the need to track the projects to ensure value for money and delivery of good governance to Nigerians.
To him, ‘in 2020 and 2021, over N6.4 billion was earmarked for constituency projects across Kaduna State and these projects are 118 in number in two years; 65 projects for 2020 and 53 for 2021. A careful look at these projects show that, they are projects that will affect the lives of people at the grassroots.
‘So, we in Follow The Money have our champions across the 23 local government areas of the state, tracking these projects, monitoring progress and giving feedback, but it is not a work that just Connected Development can do alone. So, we are seeking the partnership of the Ministry for Local Government to re-introduce us, since we have a new set of local government chairmen.
‘In March, we are planning to have our second stakeholders meeting, where we intend to invite the leadership of the ministry and the chairmen of the 23 local government areas, to share findings of the first year of our constituency projects tracking and seek more partnership from the various stakeholders.
‘We are also having more like a capacity building workshop for community members tomorrow on how they can continue tracking of these projects across the state so that they can take advantage of the open government partnership and give feedback back to the government. This is very key because the government no matter how big cannot have its eyes everywhere,’ he said.
Agu clarified that CODE is currently focusing on 23 projects with N1.164 billion value, which falls under its thematic areas of education, health and Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs Dr Shehu Usman Muhammad, in his response, assured the NGO of the ministry’s support.
‘Before your stakeholders meeting in March, we are going to create an avenue for you to meet the local government chairmen and make a presentation during our Joint Account Allocation Committee meeting.
‘At that meeting, all the 23 local government chairmen will be around, together with key officials from the local governments. That will offer you a preamble for whatever you want to do at the March stakeholders meeting.
‘We sincerely appreciate and congratulate the Chief Executive of CODE and the entire team for doing a great job and we are assuring you on behalf of the ministry that we will do all we can to support Connected Development to carry out its assignment,’ Permanent Secretary Abubakar Abba Umar, who represented the commissioner, said at the meeting.
In his part, Director of Commercial and Business Services, Kaduna Capital Territory Authority (KCTA), Aron John, who stood in for the Authority’s boss, Hafiz Bayero promised partnership with CODE especially in the area of citizens engagement, towards ensuring success of the new Kaduna City KCTA plans to build.