Kaduna State Ministry of Local Government Affairs has assured the Local government accountability Mechanism (LGAM) of its willingness to partner with it in its forthcoming Public Policy Dialogue on strengthening Local government Fiscal sustainability and delivery in Kaduna state.
The Commissioner of the Ministry, Shehu Usman Muhammed, gave the assurance when he received delegates from the Local government Accountability Mechanism in his office to seek the ministry collaboration for the success of the dialogue.
Speaking earlier, the leader of the LGAM delegation, Yusuf Goje, commended the Commissioner for its Commitment to transparency and accountability, which he demonstrated by creating the Kaduna Education accountability Mechanism when he was in charge of the Ministry of Education.
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He explained that the LGAM was co-created by Ministry for Local government affairs and Civil society partners with the Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn( PERL) in 2019, which led to the technical working group in all the 23 Local governments of the State.
Goje stressed that the community development charter informed 50% of the 23 Local Government budgets (CDC). However, they expressed concern that the actual performance in terms of budget releases is no more than 30% due to low revenue generation.
Because of the above, he said the Public Policy Dialogue reflects on the successes, gaps and lessons of the current local government fiscal space and service delivery.
“To brainstorm on new strategies towards improving revenue collection and timely remittance to the local governments; to agree on collective action in strengthening transparency and community participation in the local government budget and procurement processes; To set-up a State-level Technical Working Group on Local Government Accountability Mechanism (LGAM); and to unveil Local Government Accountability Mechanism (LGAM) champions to drive the campaign for more participatory, transparent, accountable and responsive local government administration”.
He further explained to the Commissioner that the targeted Participants are drawn from the Government, Members of LGAM, Civil Society organizations, Academia and Media.
In his response, the Commissioner, Shehu Usman Muhammed, lauded the Accountability Mechanism efforts in ensuring transparency, saying Kaduna state as an Open Government Partnership state is not limited to the State alone, but also at the local government level.
He assured the delegation that the Ministry would have all support to ensure the success of the Public Policy Dialogue.
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