Kano, Adamawa, Kogi, 5 Others Score High In Budget Transparency – Report

Kano, Adamawa, Kogi and Jigawa states have been scored high for transparency and accountability in the budget and procurement process in 2022.

A new report entitled, “Nigerian States Budget Transparency Index 2022” published yesterday in Abuja, showed that the four states alongside Edo, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom and Ondo were the eight adjudged to have be significantly transparent and provided an adequate amount of budget information to the public, as they scored more than 60 per cent.

The 2022 SNBTS report, published by a non-governmental organisation, Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre (CIRDDOC), with support from UKAID, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), revealed a decline in the average degree of public availability of budget documents in the 36 states of the federation compared to previous years, the average score fell from 49 per cent in 2020 fell to 47 per cent in 2022.

On the other hand, Lagos, Rivers and 10 other states of the federation were scored low, ranking below 40 per cent.

Plateau, Bayelsa, Imo, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Taraba, Sokoto, Delta, Benue, and Niger states also scored less than 40 per cent.

Basically, budget transparency entails all citizens accessing information on how much is allocated to different types of spending, what revenues are collected, and how international donor assistance and other public resources are used to hold the government accountable, according to stakeholders.

A breakdown of state-by-state performance, shows that no state provided extensive budget information to the public to score 81-100 per cent in 2022, representing a significant decline from the 2020 performance in which two states, Ondo and Jigawa scored 86 per cent and 91 per cent respectively.

However, 16 states, including  Ogun, Osun, Kaduna, Ekiti, Borno, Zamfara, Abia, Gombe, Katsina, Enugu, Bauchi, Cross River, Oyo, Kwara, Kebbi and Anambra are adjudged as weakly transparent as they scored between 40 and 60 percent. The remainder: Plateau, Bayelsa, Imo, Lagos, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Taraba, Sokoto, Delta, Benue, Rivers and Niger scored below 40.

Rivers, Niger, Benue, and Ondo states scored below 20 per cent, which means they provided scant or no information.

Overall, 14 states scored below the national average in 2022.

Commenting on the report, executive director, CIRDDOC, Raluchukwu Nwankwo-Obioha, said the aim of the report is to instill transparency in budgeting and budget process across the 36 states of the federation.