The Speaker of Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Moses Ije Odunwa has directed the House Committee on the public accounts and priority Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs to identify the gaps in budget implementation.
He gave the directive yesterday at Enugu during the USAID State2State quarterly budget performance review with the Ebonyi Assembly lawmakers and priority MDAs.
He noted that the event was aimed at ensuring accountability, transparency and effectiveness of the state activities on public finance-related matters by USAID State2State, the state lawmakers, ministries of education, health, and water resources, alongside finance, budget and planning departments, civil society organizations and other relevant agencies.
Odunwa reiterated the commitment of the Assembly towards ensuring total compliance with budget proposals in Ebonyi for the budget to meet up with the leadership mantra of the state governor, Chief Francis Nwifuru.
He further urged the House committee members especially those in charge of the public accounts to liaise with the relevant bodies and authorities to identify and close all gaps in budget implementation in the state.
Odunwa commended USAID State2State for its activities in Ebonyi State which he said has greatly improved and imparted positively on both budget preparation and implementation in the state.
The Ebonyi State Team Lead of USAID State2State, Dr Sam Onyia stated that the programme was to review the performances of the budget, discuss the outcome and make recommendations for an improved budget implementation in the state.
He recalled that in the last review by the States Fiscal Transparency League Table in Quarter One of 2024, Ebonyi came 5th in the rankings in Nigeria.
In a paper presentation on Ebonyi State Quarter 1 2024 Budget Performance on Priority sectors, the USAID State2State Citizens Engagement and Capacity Building Specialist and Facilitator of the programme, Mounachiso Odulana said that the review will enable the state government and stakeholders to monitor the allocation and utilisation of financial resources across the sectors and government entities.
The USAID Local Government Manager, Mrs Victoria Eze while speaking on resolutions from the last quarterly review said that more is needed to be done as it was observed that there were some sub-standard projects executed, vandalization of educational structures, inadequate number of teachers and the need to have Primary Healthcare under one roof.
