Budget 2024: House of Representatives Holds Citizens Townhall 

By Gloria Essien, Abuja

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The House is poised to deepening democratic governance and strengthening public financial management.

The Speaker of the House Of Representatives, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen disclosed this at the Citizens Town-hall On The 2024 Appropriation Bill, held in Abuja.

He said that the town hall provides a platform for direct engagement between legislators and citizens, focusing on matters related to the national budget.

Read Also: President Tinubu’s 2024 Budget, Pivotal Step Towards Renewed Hope- Information Minister 

“This is crucial to enhancing the transparency of government spending. It also allows the public to be more informed about how public funds are to be used and, by so doing, build greater trust in government institutions. More importantly, however, this town-hall will allow the National Assembly to understand citizens’ needs better and explore ways to address them through the budget. The relevance of this interface is best understood within the larger context of diminished public trust in government institutions in Nigeria and all over Africa, ” Hon Abbas said.

He noted that the town hall meeting represents a major step in changing the narrative, as indicated in the Legislative Agenda of the People’s House.

“As such, we firmly commit to strengthening public engagement and seeking inputs into the budget process, starting with the pre-budget statement, executive budget proposal, budget debate through public hearings in the legislature, and implementation, monitoring, and reporting of the budget. In the last few months, we have engaged various sections of civil society in some of our core activities, including analysis of the MTEF and sectoral debates. This forum demonstrates our willingness to introduce and support feedback mechanisms and seek public input in the 2024 Appropriation,” he said.

 

The Speaker, however, pointed out that greater citizen engagement requires action not just by the legislature but more so by the Executive.

“The Nigeria National Action Plan (2017-2019) under the Open Government Partnership identified the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning as the lead institution, with other government organs and agencies and the civil society as support institutions. This places the burden of improving public participation in the budget largely on the Executive. Some of the ways to achieve this include regular publishing of MDA budgets and quarterly and annual budget implementation reports on their websites, annual publishing of a comprehensive citizen’s guide to the budget, conduct of annual citizen’s satisfaction survey and timely publication and dissemination of all key budget documents to facilitate citizens’ participation,” he said.

Hon Abbas also said that the House of Representatives has taken the lead in facilitating greater citizens’ participation in the budget process and challenged all MDAs to do the same.

“On our part, the House will review the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 to strengthen existing provisions to improve access to information and public consultation during all phases of the budget cycle. Specifically, we will amend the FRA to require and define public participation explicitly,”he noted.

He also said that “Your participation in this town hall meeting underscores the essence of democracy – the power of the people to engage actively in governance and decision-making processes. You are invited to closely examine the 2024 budget proposal as presented to the National Assembly by Mr. President. As representatives of the people, it is our duty to ensure that the annual appropriation reflects the needs and aspirations of every Nigerian citizen. We are acutely aware that so many Nigerians are grappling with the challenges of soaring inflation. In August 2023, the headline inflation rate increased to 25.80% relative to the July 2023 headline inflation rate, which was 24.08%. The food inflation rate was 29.34% on a year-on-year basis, which was 6.22% points higher than the rate recorded in August 2022. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics also shows that transportation costs have soared due to the hike in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit.”

Hon. Abbas also reassured all Nigerians that the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, and the National Assembly are committed to addressing these hardships.
The top priorities of the 2024 Appropriation Bill, as stated by the President, are national security, local job creation, and poverty reduction. As a result, he labelled it the “Budget of Renewed Hope”.

He called on Nigerians to support the aspirations of the 2024 budget and suggest ways through which the National Assembly can strengthen the proposals to deliver better economic growth and development.

“Your contributions must go beyond mere criticisms to constructive and evidence-based suggestions on how we can improve the budget process and make the budget more responsive to the needs of all Nigerians. The full involvement of the House Committee on Appropriation is deliberate in view of their role in the overall budget process. The Chairman and his Members have been enthusiastic about this engagement and have actually included it in their work plan. I commend this commitment and am confident that the inputs from this interaction will be considered in the Committee’s final report to the House. Going forward, we will sustain this initiative. We believe this process should start before the budget is presented to the National Assembly. This is critical to ensuring that the budget becomes the people’s budget. We expect that the 2025 budget will be discussed at the constituency level to ensure greater inclusion and engagement with diverse stakeholders at the grassroots level,” he added.

Also commenting on the Citizens’ Townhall initiative, the Deputy Speaker, Hon Benjamin Kalu, said that the event is a testament to the House of Representatives’ commitment to transparency, accountability, and, most importantly, the active participation of citizens in the legislative process.

“The budget plays a crucial role in guiding our nation’s journey by determining priorities and allocating resources. Therefore, it is essential that the budgeting process is transparent, inclusive, and reflects the needs and aspirations of our citizens. This town hall provides a unique opportunity for all citizens to understand the details of the 2024 budget, engage in meaningful dialogue with their elected representatives, and provide valuable feedback,” Hon Kalu said.

He encouraged Nigerians to actively participate in the process, ensuring that their voices are heard and considered.

Earlier, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, Hon. Abubakar Kabir Bichi, said that in exercising its powers of coordinating the Appropriations process, the Committee will always maintain an open door policy to accommodate the interest of stakeholders in making the process more credible, peoples oriented and veritable instrument towards good governance.

“The Committee is determined to promote this laudable campaign which explains why this engagement is organized to provide you with the opportunity of participation, making inputs and telling the rest of Nigerians the new dimension of budget process which is open for public scrutiny and value addition from stakeholders,” Hon Bichi said.

In his goodwill message, the Clerk to the National Assembly, Mr. Sani Magaji Tambawal said that the Town-hall marks the second attempt by the National Assembly to embark on what could be described as a consultative meeting on the national budget.

“The aim is to encourage inclusive participation and transparency and to prioritise the people’s opinions on government policies and programs,” he said.

He stressed that when critical stakeholders are not consulted before the national budget and appropriations process is concluded, it is inevitable that government policies, programs, and projects will be replicated.

Participants at the Townhall meeting suggested divergent ways to make the 2024 budget work for Nigerians.

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