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• Partners NUC, NBTE to develop curriculum on fiscal responsibility
Many states are yet to implement the Fiscal Responsibility Act, Mr. Victor Muruako, chairman, Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), has said.
He also disclosed that it had partnered the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to design curriculum on fiscal responsibility.
He said some states had passed the law but were yet to set up fiscal responsibility agency.
“Some did not exactly passed the law, they just tried to have it, and even some that passed it just have it on record and are yet to implement the law.
“As we speak, about 26 states have adopted the law and are at various stages of implementation.
“For some states, their governors have not signed the law, some that have signed it into law are yet to set up the agencies, so as we speak it’s s a work in progress,” he said. He said he domestication of the Fiscal Responsibility Act was necessary to promote prudence in management of resources in states.
“When the need arouse for the Federal Government to bail out states, there was an agreement of two conditions that must be met, part of which is the need for the sub-nationals to engage in reforms; one of the reforms is to pass the fiscal responsibility law, Audit law and Procurement law at their level,” he said.
Muruako commended the Nigerian Governors Forum for creating an enabling platform for peer review at sub-nationals. He said the Commission was engaging the Forum to ensure that all states adopt and implement the Fiscal Act.
“The forum has been a veritable forum to assist and they have done a lot to ensure that states engage in reforms,” he said.
According to him, much has been achieved towards designing the curriculum, which is aimed at ensuring the engagement of citizens in fiscal transparency at all levels.
“Our aim is to catch students young as we are beginning to have fiscal responsibility enthusiasts amongst youths in schools due to our sensitisation programmes, so it’s a work in progress,” he said.
Muruako added that the Commission had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and the National Universities Commission (NUC) to promote fiscal transparency.
“We have taken our drive to several NYSC camps and plans are underway to visit more camps.
“Our engagements have been successful so far and youths are becoming more aware and conscious which is part of what is raising awareness amongst them.
“They are getting to know about what it should be, what it means to be transparent in public finance management and are now getting more active,” Muruako said. He said it was imperative for students and youths to understand that they don’t have to graduate or be at top national level before knowing the appropriate conducts in governance or leadership.
“We have gotten positive responses from the students and they have assured that they are now on their own trying to implement some of the things they have learnt from us,” the chairman said.
He also said that the Commission had created online platforms to engage with citizens, as part of its fiscal transparency and accountability drive.
“We had also engaged Civil Society Organisations, citizens, critical stakeholders at the sub-nationals, debt management officers amongst others with the aim of exchanging ideas.
“We have had workshops for sub-national officials where we tried to interact with them for effective productivity.
“We had a training in Kano for North-west zone, Portharcourt for south-south, Lagos for South-west, Yola for North-east, Jos for North-central, Uyo for South South and Lagos for South West,” he said.
