NGO charges Lagos government on participatory budgetary process

L-R Barr Abiodun Olowu, Principal Partner, Quintessence Law Centre; Arigbabu Sulaimon, Executive Secretary, HEDA Resource Center; Sulaimon Ridwan, Programmes Manager, HEDA Resource Center; Olarenwaju Suraju, Chairman, HEDA Resource Center and Olusina Odugbemi, Programme Consultant, HEDA Resource Center, at the public presentation of Second edition of the “Leadership Approval Rating”, being a report of the survey carried out on “Citizens Perceptions of Leadership & Governance in Nigeria (Focusing on Lagos State)”

A non-governmental NGO, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), has urged the Lagos State Government to ensure a participatory budgetary process in managing and administering the state.

Chairman, HEDA Resource Centre, Olanrewaju Suraju, said this, yesterday, during a public presentation of “Leadership Approval Rating: A Survey of Citizen Perception on Governance in Nigeria,” in conjunction with MacArthur Foundation.

He said the report, which focused on assessing public perceptions about the leadership of the Lagos State Government, specifically with respect to its delivery on budget, promises and general expectations of the citizens, was an independent survey of people’s perception of the state government’s performances.

The report also recommended and charged that the state Assembly to make public and proactively disclose copies of budget passed immediately after passage.

While noting that the roads of Lagos State are unbefitting of the economic hub of Nigeria, it stated that the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state government should be sufficiently deployed to build mass-oriented infrastructure for the state.

Similarly, considering the spate of insecurity and increasing rate of unemployment, the survey recommended that the state government be under renewed obligation to rededicate attention towards creating sustainable job for the teeming youths and also providing security across the state.

He said the leadership approval rating, was an initiative of centre, which from time to time and depending on the issue in the polity shines the spotlight on different areas, sectors, arms and tiers of government with a view to gaining insight into how people perceive the government and its activities, as well as measuring people’s expectations of government with a view to serving as a feedback mechanism to government and other stakeholders.

Highlighting further, he stated that the survey had more than half (61 per cent) of respondents, who have no idea what the Lagos State budget contains.

It stated that only five per cent of the respondents, expressed satisfaction with the Lagos State Government’s overall performance, while about 40 per cent of respondents believed that the government needed to improve its performance in critical sectors, among others.

The report stated that employment, road network, education, health and security were the top five priority areas where Lagosians want government to improve going forward.