The Zamfara State House of Assembly said it would focus on realistic and people-oriented budget in 2023.
The Speaker, Nasiru Magarya, said this in a statement in Gusau on Friday by the Director General, Press Affairs to the house, Nasiru Biyabiki.
Magarya stated this at a two-day meeting on understanding and utilisation of Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).
The meeting was organised by the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, in collaboration with the state Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
The participants at the meeting included 24 members of the house, house Committee’s secretaries, Commissioner fot Budget and Economic Planning, Accountant General of the state, staff from the state ministries of budget and finance and Board of Internal Revenues.
Magarya said the meeting was aimed at engaging members of the house and their committees’ secretaries on basic terms and rudiments of Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).
He said the assembly would work at ensuring citizens’ participation and more realistic budget, to meet the societal need of socio-economic challenges and other emerging issues.
“This shall serve as a guide for deliberations and review of the future annual budgets and other financial regulations for the betterment of the entire society.
“The Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning and state Office of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the support of UNICEF and UNDP, are currently developing a 25-year State Development Plan (SDP).
“It is our hope that the team will engage all the relevant stakeholders and give priority to the emerging issues for the document to be people-oriented and speak to the realities of time,” Magarya added.
He called on the participants to pay serious attention to all deliberations throughout the session.
Magarya described the challenges associated with internal revenue generation in the state as worrisome.
The speaker called on all authorities concerned to work out modalities towards addressing them.
He added that the state legislature would engage all the revenue generating MDAs in the state to address the programme.
Thehe Chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Shamsudeen Hassan, said the event was organised because of the urgent need of the state to have a participatory budget for more inclusive governance.
Hassan said that the event was in conformity with Abuja Declaration and other international and national considerations.
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