By; YUSUF ISHAKU GOJE
It is disturbing that less than fifty days to the end of the year, the Kaduna State 2024 budget proposal has not been presented, by Governor (Senator) Uba Sani, before the Kaduna State House of Assembly.
By this time last year, the executive budget town-hall meeting had been held, the budget proposal presented to the State Assembly and appropriation public hearing done with.
Worthy of note, the State over the past seven years had returned to the January to December fiscal year. The current delay threatens to take us to the days of uncertainty of our fiscal calendar with huge implication for development and investments.
Not to forget that presenting it to the citizens and State Assembly within a short timeframe to review can compromise the quality of scrutiny towards ensuring fiscal realism and allocations to strategic priorities.
As of this point there is no publicly available information that the State Assembly has approved through a resolution the Medium Term Expenditure Framework MTEF (2024-2026), in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Law, 2016.
The current administration campaigned with the SUSTAIN blueprint to sustain and consolidate on the work of its predecessor. The delay in holding the executive budget town-hall meeting, has raised anxiety as to whether the administration will upload its campaign promise on Nurturing Citizens’ Engagement.
There is no gainsaying the State is faced with a myriad of challenges cutting across huge debt service burden, arrears of liabilities, rising poverty, unemployment, inflation, child and maternal mortality, out-of-school children, insecurity amongst others.
Thankfully, these were some of the issues the Governor campaigned on addressing during the gubernatorial elections. This is why all eyes are awaiting to see the content of the 2024 budget, which will be the first budget under the current administration.
Lets engage, ask the right questions and hold the government accountable.
Yusuf Ishaku Goje is an Active Citizen, writes from Kaduna
