Over the years, the budgeting process in Kaduna state in particular and Nigeria as a whole is one that has been shrouded in secrecy and ambiguity, with little or no input from the citizenry.

Budget implementation has suffered from crass misappropriation and mismanagement, with the citizens at the receiving end as a result of a less than impressive execution record by government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). This has brought about mass unemployment, abject poverty and widespread underdevelopment.

It was with great excitement that many stakeholders received the information of Kaduna state government’s decision to operate a zero based budgeting system (policy based). Budgets before now appeared to be found only within government circles and the provisions could mainly be interpreted by those professionally trained and assigned to manage them.

For the first time, the people were availed the opportunity to participate in the process of budgeting through an open budget system. This position taken by the current administration shows an indication of its commitment to run an inclusive and responsive government.

Worthy of note even with the laudable steps taken by the government of the day in this regard is the low level of involvement of citizens especially at the grassroots. Those that had interest and participated in the budgeting process (formulation and approval stage) so far are majorly the vocal special interest groups and elite class; citizens at the grassroots still appear largely ignorant of even the passage of the 2016 Kaduna State Budget into law talk less of its provisions.

In a bid to justify the above hypothesis that Coalition of Association for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment and Development (CALPED), a community based network of registered groups, undertook a survey at Ungwan Na’maigero, a suburb in Kaduna state, by administering fifty (50) questionnaires across ten (10) registered Cooperatives.

The questions asked bordered on what a budget is, awareness of the passage of the 2016 Kaduna State Budget, provisions and priority areas in the agriculture and forestry sector, and roles expected of citizens in the budget implementation process. Upon collation of the administered questionnaires, we discovered that our assumptions were right; seventy five percent (75%) of respondents had no knowledge concerning the questions asked, while the other twenty five percent (25%) had very little knowledge.

To corroborate our findings, we then organized a Focused Group Discussion (FGD), with the local Chief in attendance alongside leaders of other community groups in Ungwan Na’maigero.

The outcome of the meeting largely reflected the findings of our mini survey. This presented us with a need that should be met by creating awareness and breaking down the Kaduna state budget especially at the grassroots level, in order to encourage an inclusive and proper people oriented development.

We must restate that the participation of citizens especially those at the grassroots, not just at the stage of formulation and approval but also during execution and evaluation, can help to ensure that decision-makers are diligent in the implementation of policies. It will further improve the efficiency, responsiveness and accountability of government, and serve as a veritable means of checking corruption. This would go a long way in helping to overcome public distrust, cynicism and increase trust in the government.

It is in view of the above and in fulfillment of our resolutions (Communiqué) at the last CALPED SERIES with the theme, “The Business of Agriculture: Prospects for Youth and Women in the Era of Change”; that we are organizing a town hall meeting at Ungwan Na’maigero on the 13^th February, 2016.

This is in order to step down and breakdown the provisions for the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in the Kaduna State 2016 Budget; for the purpose of exposing residents to the opportunities in the budget and to encourage them to take ownership of its implementation process.

In achieving this, we seek to partner with the Ministry of Budget and Planning, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, State Accountability and Voice Initiative (SAVI) and Know Your Budget Group. The community on its part is making effort to mobilize at least two hundred (200) of its members for the program.

Our objectives include: To step down and breakdown the Kaduna state 2016 Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry budget at the grassroots level; to mobilize and increase participation of community stakeholders in the budget implementation processes through effective monitoring and evaluation; set up a community based monitoring and evaluation committee; and partner with the government and other stakeholders in ensuring the effective implementation of the Kaduna state 2016 budget; also, taking into consideration that the current administration of Kaduna state has granted autonomy to the local governments by abolishing “joint account”, a community based monitoring and evaluation mechanism must be put in place to check the operations of the Local Government Councils and attain developmental objectives.

At the end of the interactive program the following outcomes are expected: Elimination of the high level of ignorance among the people especially at the grassroots about the budget and budget processes down to the level of implementation; possible mass production of a comprehensive summary of the budget in English and Hausa languages to be made available in the communities to reach the grassroots, noting that quite a lot of the populace have no access to the internet where the budget could be found; increased awareness on Government intervention programmes as outlined in the budget so as to enable the people at the grassroots to key in and benefit; increased participation of community stakeholders (citizens) in the budget implementation processes through effective monitoring and evaluation; a community level committee for follow-up; and a communiqué to be distributed to key stakeholders.

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Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

Yusuf Ishaku Goje, the Convener of CALPED, can be reached via [email protected]