Pius Dukor
One of the Civil Society Organizations in the State, Rivers Social Action has tasked the State Governor, Barr. Nyensim Wike to prevail on his officers to make the 2016 Budget available for the benefits of citizens of the state.
Social Action dropped the hints in a press briefing through the Programme Officers, Comrade Ken Henshaw and Ekpeke Prince at the weekend in Port Harcourt.
“The failure of the Rivers State Government to make the 2016 budget document available to the public has made it impossible for citizens of the state and other tax payers to evaluate, monitor and score the extent of how the government has utilized the resources at her disposal”, they said.
Explaining further, Henshaw stated that Social Action has made concerted efforts in demanding for copy of the 2016 budget but to no avail particularly from the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning and Ministry of Information respectively.
He maintained that in a research conducted in the Niger Delta States of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and Rivers of open Budgets in the region, it is only Rivers State that their budget is not available either on the Rivers State website or hard copy, noting that citizens are not aware which projects are located in their communities and which one directly benefit them saying, is a far cry from global practices.
The budget experts stated that budget is a tool for transparency and accountability and government must include its citizens for participation but regretted that the present situation in Rivers State is unfair to even the tax payers and it is the responsibility of the House of Assembly to galvanize their constituency to know what the people need through needs Assessment and participation in budget circle.
Social Action, however blamed the situation on lack of proper information as the governor may not be aware that the 2016 budget is not available for public scrutiny.
Henshaw told journalists that in 2014 and 2015 a copy of Rivers State budget has always been access on line, also the one of 2013, 2014 and 2015 were on the state official website but is now removed, a trend that shows retrogression. He said in June 2016, three freedom of information request were send to the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Ministry of Information and Ministry of Education respectively requesting for the 2016 Budget document. When asked what is social Action doing in educating the masses, Sabastine Kpalap coordinator of citizens right said that there are series of training particularly on information about the budget and how citizen are willing to be part of it.###
