NPA keys into open budget system, signs MoU with BudgiT

Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), at the weekend, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with BudgiT Information Technology Network to enable it promote transparent and accountable in budget implementation in the coming year.

The MoU, signed between the management of the NPA and BudgiT Network, will not only put NPA’s budget and its implementation in the public domain, but will also keep Nigerians updated with all the necessary information regarding its implementation.

According to a statement signed by Michael Ajayi, general manager, public affairs, Hadiza Bala Usman, managing director of NPA, said the partnership would enable NPA develop an open budget system and to implement a public data dissemination programme that would block all revenue leakages.

With the MoU, Usman said, NPA would be able to deliver on its mandate and create more wealth for Nigerians. “NPA, which is a critical organ in the economic artery of the nation, will now be able to promote effective and efficient management of all its 24 terminals across the country.”

Apart from promoting transparency in public expenditure, the partnership, according to Usman, would also instil a framework for transparent budget provisions for NPA, allow stakeholders to make inputs, encourage participatory governance by way of feedbacks and creates an enabling environment that would encourage foreign investment.

“The collaboration will ensure that key researches; industry policies and innovations are effectively communicated. It will also ensure that critical data are generated and made accessible for policy makers, private sector actors, stakeholders and the general public,” Usman said.

Oluseun Onigbinde, lead partner of BudgiT, who disclosed that NPA was the first revenue generating government agency to make its budget public, assured that the management of the NPA would not regret keying into the programme.

Onigbinde said the collaboration, apart from promoting probity, transparency and accountability, would also restore government and public confidence in the management of NPA.

BudgiT, which stated operation in 2011, has achieved feats in the space of socio-technological advocacy towards opening up of public budgets for citizens’ comprehension.