The importance
of open governance in a political environment where corruption is endemic like Nigeria cannot be overstated. For decades successive administrations at federal, state and local government levels have capitalised on the opactiy of public finance to perpetuate massive corruption and mismanagement of public funds.
The process of budgeting and its implementation in Nigeria is one that is fraught with corruption. This is not unconnected to the fact that budget documents are rarely made available to the public for scrutiny. In light of this, the decision by the Kaduna State government under the leadership of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai to make the state 2017 budget available to all and sundry is commendable.
The Kaduna State 2017 – 2019 budget made available on the website of Kaduna Ministry of Budget and Planning contains full details of revenue and expenditure projections in an open and transparent manner. This is the first time any government in Nigeria is making such detailed budget information available to the public.
According to the information on the website, the key targets of the Kaduna State 2017-2019 Budget are:
- Ensuring adequate provision for the completion in 2017 of projects and procurements initiated in 2016;
- Ensuring the actualization of the development priorities of the government as articulated in the State Development Plan (SDP) and respective Sector Implementation Plans (SIPs);
- Maintaining a favourable proportion of Capital to Recurrent expenditure (a target of 60%:40%);
- Leverage N800 billion in PPP funding between 2016 and 2020;
- Maintain a sustainable debt position in line with Federal Debt Management office(FDMO) criteria
- Expand the revenue base of the state by exploring untapped sources
- Improve economic growth through investment in physical infrastructure
- Eliminating wastage and other unjustifiable expenditure that are not clearly linked to policy objectives; and
- Continue interventions in the social sector that will enable the less privileged have opportunities to grow through targeted investments in education and healthcare.
Download the Kaduna 2017 – 2016 Budget here: DOWNLOAD