Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in Sokoto State have been tasked to design their budgets with a scientific and realistic approach for the good of the state.
The commissioner for budget and economic planning, Dr. Abubakar Mohammad Zayyana, gave the charge at a training workshop on development of medium-term sector strategy (MTSS) from 2026 to 2028 for health, education, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and social protection.
Dr. Zayyana who spoke at the workshop organised by the ministry in collaboration with UNICEF, said MDAs’ budgets should be based on their programmes and activities to align with the government’s nine-point SMART agenda.
While highlighting the importance of programme-based budgeting in achieving desired goals, he stressed that weak and ambitious planning always lead to failure.
The commissioner for health, Dr. Faruk Abubakar Wurno, urged directors of planning in the ministry and its parastatals to make good projections based on the objectives and programmes of the ministry.
Dr. Wurno described MTSS as a critical step in improving the state’s budget and warned that any submitted budget proposal not aligned with the ministry’s objectives and programs would not be included.
In his remarks, the chief of UNICEF’s Sokoto field office Mr. Michel Juma, called on the state government to effectively leverage the support it receives on its commitment to transit from the traditional mode of budgeting to programme-based budgeting, a shift the UNICEF is assisting in nine states across the federation.
Mr. Juma who spoke through UNICEF social policy specialist, Malam Isah Ibrahim, emphasised the need for greater financial investment in social sectors to tackle the persistent issues of multidimensional and monetary poverty that impede overall development in various part of Nigeria.
The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Hajiya Maryam Ahmad Barade, said partnership between the government and UNICEF was yielding positive results in almost all areas of the state’s development.
