The Nasir El-Rufai-led government of Kaduna State has agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with BudgIT Nigeria, a civic organisation, to design a platform which allows citizens to see the policies, budgets, procurement records and also status of fund releases in a single space.
The new step will allow citizens to be able to verify and monitor the government’s progress, using mobile phones, and can also report feedback via the platform.
El Rufai, while reacting to the development said: “We are delighted to be making this contribution to enhancing transparency, and shredding the veil of secrecy that often marginalises the citizen from informed knowledge of how public finances are mobilised and utilised.”
Oluseun Onigbinde, BudgIT co-founder told BD SUNDAY that the initiative was to deepen the interaction between citizens and government, in line with the current mood of the country for increased transparency and accountability.
He said BudgIT also believes that with the intense focus on the national government and goodwill following the recent elections, which ended the 16- year reign of a dominant party, there was also a rising level of civic consciousness now focused on the state governments.
NATHANIEL AKHIGBE
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