From Victor Nwegede, Abakaliki
In Ebonyi, the participants of the State Accountability, Transparency, and Effectiveness (State2State) Activity, a USAID-funded project have called for the inclusion of more local government areas and states in the USAID-State2State programs.
The request was made by the people of Ezza South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State during the annual validation round table of the USAID-State2State at their council headquarters, Onueke. The participants of the validation exercise were divided into three groups by Amb. Peggy Chukwuemeka, the Leader of the Parent-Child Intervention Centre, one of the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) implementing the USAID-State2State program in the state.
Amb. Peggy Chukwuemeka commended the LGA stakeholders for their support and openness to learn and relearn about accountability, transparency and effectiveness from the USAID State2State.
She explained that the USAID-S2S works to ensure accountability, transparency and effectiveness of the targeted seven local government areas in Ebonyi State and to complement what has been done in the areas of education, health and budgeting as a way of promoting citizens' engagement in governance for more development in the hinterlands.
According to her, USAID State2State has been implementing in Ebonyi State since November 2020, working closely with the state partners including government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and other USAID Implementing Partners (IPS) in the state.
She noted that the USAID-S2S has received strong acceptability, commitment and support from the Executive Governor of Ebonyi State; Engr. David Nweze Umahi, MDAs, as well as CSOs which has led to the successful ongoing implementation of its activities at the state level.
She said in December 2021, Parent=Child Intervention Centre (PCIC) and 5 other NGO partners with funding from USAID State2State stepped down State2State efforts of ensuring improvements in governance reforms by engaging the citizens, in the 7 local government areas in Ebonyi state.
Amb. Peggy gave the LGA stakeholders a recap of all the activities that PCIC has implemented starting from February 2022, with a buy-in and baseline assessment of the status and level of inclusiveness of women, youth and Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) in Basic Education and Primary Health Care to the created Community Working Group (CWG) comprising of women, youths and Persons with disabilities, PWDs in May 2022 and building their capacity on Budget tracking, Social Audit, Use of Freedom of Information Act, Conflict mitigation and early warning signs.
According to Amb. Peggy, the CWG has been integrated into the LGA already working with the ward counsellors in the 7 LGAs for an inclusive 2023 budget.
Their commendations came up at the heels of Amb. Peggy's explanation about the targets of the USAID-S2S in the seven local government areas of the state, of which Ezza South happened to be among them.
She went further to say that during their visits to the health centre and primary schools, the PCIC team identified some problems among which is the non-existence of ramps in the public facilities, which is a sign of non-inclusiveness of the PWDs of which she solicited to be considered by the new Executive Chairperson.
In her remarks, the Executive Chairman of Ezza South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Hon Mrs Euphemia Nwali, appreciated the USAID-State2State team, for their programs cutting across health, education, and conflict mitigation.
Mrs Nwali expressed interest in the USAID-State2State programs and assured of partnering with them in her council area to carry out health outreach to the people in the hinterlands.
"Right now, we are planning to have health outreach with the local government area. We also want to partner with USAID-State2State to carry out this medical outreach program in our various communities or wards. We've checked our people, especially the elderly ones, and we discovered that most times, they don't know what's happening in their body system, and they start taking drugs. So, we like the USAID programs and we pray for your partnership with us as a local government," the council chairman said.
She added: "In the area of education, I'm so much interested. Very soon, I will start to visit primary and secondary schools in my local government area, to know what is happening there. And if there is any program I can run there, I will seek your partnership as well if the need arises."
On citizen's engagement in governance, Mrs Nwali said: "A few weeks ago, I had a stakeholders' meeting in this council, to discuss our budget. In that meeting, I directed all the stakeholders from their communities, and wards, including the already created Community Working Group to go and meet and tell us what they need in their different localities so that we can capture it in our budget. And whatever each ward or community needs that is what we deliver to the area."
Presenting opinions by the participants, the representative of group one and the Leader of the Ezza South Legislative Council, Solomon Nwali, said “USAID-State2State has impacted the council people positively, as the government in power always accommodates the citizens in budget processes nowadays."
Thomas Nwali, the Head of the Department of Education and Social Welfare, appreciated the USAID-State2State implementing team, saying “before now, most of the council people were not having any knowledge of budgeting”.
He said, "Through citizens engagement, USAID-State2State has made us know and be active participants in the budget processes, unlike when it was the local government chairman and few stakeholders used to prepare the budget without seeking the consent of the community people."
He said the USAID-S2S has created awareness in the community health facilities and its usage, through sensitization.
Making recommendations, the group observed: "USAID-State2State has done much but they should try to incorporate more local government areas, and states because what's good for the goose is also good for the gander. So, if Ebonyi is included, another state should be included in the USAID-State2State activities. I know that currently, only six states that USAID-State2State activities are going on, so, we need more LGAs and state inclusion."
