Ebonyi govt assures USAID of project reform sustainability

THE Government of Ebonyi State has assured its foreign partners that the reforms initiated by USAID State2State for the State development will be sustained beyond 2025 when the project will come to a close in the State.

Grace Umezuruike, Professor and Secretary to the Ebonyi State Government, gave the assurance during the State Transformation Committee (STC) Quarterly Review Meeting held in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.

BusinessDay reports that the Nigeria State Accountability, Transparency, and Effectiveness (State2State) Activity supports and strengthens governance structures in some States in Nigeria, including Ebonyi to improve their ability to plan and budget, raise revenues, increase civil society participation, and oversee service delivery in the health; education; and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sectors.

Umezuruike, represented by Onu Nweze, a Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, noted that the State2State reforms had mpacted positively on the State, and the governor, being progressive, couldn’t have let such a human-oriented programme like that die in the State.

Sam Onyia USAID State2State team lead Ebonyi Field Office, represented by Nneka Egbuna State2State, a Communication Specialist, explained that the STC is a group responsible for sustaining State2State reforms in Ebonyi in the area of public finance management, public procurement, gender and social inclusion, peace and conflict resolution among others.

Onyia charged the STC to ensure that the State Government sustain the Activity of State2State beyond 2025 when the project will close out in Ebonyi.

“State2State is supporting Ebonyi to have reform in public financial management, public procurement, audit reform, internally- generated revenue, debt management, open government partnership, citizens and community engagement and participation, and the STC is expected to work towards ensuring that the reforms are sustained in Ebonyi even after State2State project to have transformational development in the State”.