By; YUSUF ISHAKU GOJE
The palpable fear that the current administration might not build on the gains of the ongoing participatory budgeting reforms, despite its campaign slogan of SUSTAIN, was punctured with the 2024-2026 budget call circular. The Planning and Budget Commission in its 2024-2026 budget call circular, as part of efforts to adhere to its key fiscal objectives, mandated all MDAs to ring-fence a percentage of the State budget to the Community Development Charter (CDC).
The call circular reads, “MDAs ensure that 5% of its capital expenditure goes to projects under CDC.” This is another huge milestone following the approvals for the CDC protocol and citizens demand portal (www.citizensdemand.org) by the State Executive Council in 2022. More so, the Kaduna Local Accountability Mechanism (KAD-LGAM), supported by PERL/FCDO to develop an advocacy strategy and brief, had consistently advocated for the ring fencing of a percentage of the budget for the CDC.
This is in order to align with the now accepted global model of participatory budgeting first started in the 1980s in Brazil as a poverty reduction strategy. Participatory budgeting is the process of enabling and empowering citizens to directly be involved in making decisions about budget issues. For those who might not be aware, the CDC is Kaduna’s model of participatory budgeting. This action places Kaduna State in the ranks of other subnationals at the global level such as Porto Alegre in Brazil, New York in the United States of America, among others.
This bold step is a demonstration of responsiveness, in the spirit of Open Government Partnership (OGP), by the leadership of the Commission under Hon. Muktar Ahmed. Importantly, it increases the confidence of communities and civil society partners that the government is going beyond the rhetoric of campaigns in fulfilling its promise of nurturing citizens’ engagement as captured in the SUSTAIN blueprint.
This will also build on the gains recorded with the completion of CDC nominated State projects in Giwa, Sabon Gari in 2022; and hopefully the yet to be confirmed completion of others in Kajuru, Zaria, Jema’a, Igabi, Zangon Kataf and Sabon Gari as captured in the ended 2023 State budget. Currently, KAD-LGAM during the forthcoming civil budget post-mortem will be assessing the performance influence of the CDC in the 2024 approved State budget in line with the directive given to MDAs in the budget call circular.
While the CDC has its own fair share of challenges, it remains a potent strategy for rural transformation, poverty reduction and closing the trust deficit between the government and people of Kaduna State. For the past five years, it has shown huge potential to meet local needs through a bottom-top, inclusive, participatory and consensus-driven approach. Evidently, it has informed the 23 LGAs annual budget within the stated period on average by 50%.
Despite low implementation due to paucity of funds at the LGAs, it has impacted some communities. For instance, it led to the rehabilitation of a burnt school in Igabi, where the pupils had been studying under trees and neighboring houses. Likewise, in Ikara, it led to the addition of a block of classrooms in a school that had a block of classrooms, despite an increase in population, since it was built in 1976.
Now that it is clear that the current administration means business as regards Rural Transformation, the CDC offers an added strategy for not just delivery of the projects but gaining community buy-in and ownership. A political capital the current administration desperately needs. Therefore, we are optimistic that the State government will prioritize the CDC as it has done through the LGA budgets in line with section 56 (1), 57 (2) and 72 (1, c and d) of the Local Government Reform Law.
Goje is a member of the civil society and lead of the Secretariat of Kaduna Local Government Accountability Mechanism (KAD-LGAM)
