Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu, has urged civil society organisations and other development partners to raise citizens’ awareness of the importance of participating in the government’s budgetary processes to promote transparency, accountability, and a deeper understanding of governance.
The minister made the call on Wednesday in Abuja when the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Support Unit members, led by its lead person, Ms Maureen Karuki, paid him a courtesy visit.
Bagudu, the incoming OGP State actors co-chair, stated that President Bola Tinubu is committed to promoting transparency, evident through bold reforms, including the HOPE Initiative on Governance, Education, and Health.
He listed other reforms, including foreign exchange market reforms, fuel subsidy adjustments, taxation processes to establish a simplified and updated tax system for easier compliance, digitisation of revenue collection, and consumer credit to provide an opportunity for spreading payments on houses for private and public servants, alongside agricultural projects and manufacturing sector reforms.
He explained that in a constitutional federal system like Nigeria, democracy, particularly concerning the preparation of the budget, places significant demands on the legislative body, along with the additional challenge of prioritising projects for their constituencies.
“The citizens could be judgmental when there is no clear understanding of why specific projects are placed at various locations during budget preparation,” he stated, according to a statement that was issued by the Minister’s spokeswoman, Julie Osage-Jacob’s.
He stated that it is therefore crucial for OGP and other development partners to assist the country in informing citizens through educated narratives, to ensure a better understanding of the government, its structures, and other nations willing to make difficult decisions to achieve a higher revenue-to-GDP ratio.
He stated that advocacy could encourage citizens to emphasise quality requests through their representatives to ensure their needs are prioritised in the budget. “These are areas that can help to boost citizen participation in governance,” the minister emphasised.
Speaking earlier, the delegation leader, Support Unit Global Lead of Partnership for Accountability OGP, Ms. Maureen Kariuki, announced that OGP was at its best when led and coordinated by the ministry. She also stated that the visit aimed to seek the political will and leadership that the Ministry could contribute to OGP, given that OGP experienced a significant leap when its office was situated within the Ministry, and to collaborate with the Ministry in enhancing budget transparency.
She supported the minister’s stance that citizens’ participation in budgetary processes should be encouraged. She said, “I want to see it demonstrated in the next Action Plan of 2025 – 2029. Fiscal transparency and citizen participation around budget processes ensure that budgets serve what benefits the citizens.”
The courtesy visit to the minister is part of the activities earmarked for commemorating open governance week.
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