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From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Mid-way into the implementation of the 2021 budget in Delta State, there is already a revenue shortfall of N40 billion, the state government has disclosed.
The shortfall, according to the Delta State Commissioner for Economic Planning, Barry Pere-Gbe, resulted from insufficient funds from the federation account.
Pere-Gbe disclosed this at the 2022 Citizens Budget Engagement Forum held in Asaba, the state capital.
Despite the shortfall, Pere-Gbe reiterated the unalloyed commitment of the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa administration to always make the well-being of citizens the central focus of government activities.
He assured that government would ensure efficiency and effectiveness in harnessing the abundant human and natural resources to transform the state into one of the most developed in the country.
According to him, the state aimed to achieve the expectation through strategic implementation of projects and programmes, adding that submissions from the summit would be incorporated into the budget for proactive, efficient and more effective planning.
He explained that it was in continuation of the steps by the Okowa-led administration to make the state great that necessitated a strategic consultative engagement process with relevant organisations and groups for the preparation of the budget.
Pere-Gbe said since the state signed up with the open government partnership domiciled with the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning, it remains committed to transparency in the execution of its budgets.
Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to providing dividends of democracy and encourage citizens’ participation in governance.
Aniagwu noted that their contributions would significantly help the state government in deepening its budgeting processes, adding that their comments, remarks and observations would be channelled to the governor for evaluation and consideration.
He reminded participants that they have unique roles to play in monitoring government projects in their respective communities to ensure that the government’s projects were executed in line with contractual agreements.
‘We are committed to allowing our people to enjoy the dividends of democracy by allowing them to participate in the governance process.
‘Our definition of democracy is about the people and how they participate because there is nothing like governance without budgeting.
‘This is imperative because anything and everything about governance depend on how you are going to dispense the little resources you have to address the challenges of the people.
‘This time we don’t just want to give it to them; we want them to tell us what they need. You will recall last year the same thing was done and to a very large extent, we were able to address a whole lot of issues in our different communities.
‘We are happy with the participation today and we must appreciate the Ministry of Economic Planning for being able to bring in the array of persons to the discussion today,’ he stated.
