Participants at the town hall meeting in Borno
By SADIQ ABUBAKAR, Maiduguri –
The Borno State Government held a town hall meeting on Wednesday to gather input for the 2025 budget.
The meeting, which took place at the El Kanemi Hall of the Ramat Polytechnic in Maiduguri, aimed to give citizens a platform to share their needs and aspirations.
Governor Babagana Zulum opened the meeting, emphasizing its importance in ensuring the budget effectively addresses the people’s concerns.
Represented by State Deputy, Alhaji Umar Kadafur, said ” this meeting is inline with the international best practices and to afford stakeholders the opportunity to cross fertilize ideas and come up with transparent and accountable budgets that would meet the needs of the people”.
The governor also assured that all inputs made by the stakeholders will be in cooperated into the 2025 budgets and implement within the scarce resources of the government inline with 10 point agenda and 25 year Development plan and urged participants to feel free and participate actively.
Zulum added that any projects or memo which have not been captured in the 2025 budget will not be given approval, stressing that this have been part of the government policy of transparency and accountability.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry for Budget and Planing, Dr Philip Shallangwa urged the participants to pay keen attention to the papers presentations, make proper and meaningful criticism and contributions, discuss issues appropriately deliberate on maters with a view to make progress and come up with a formidable fiscal documentary that will meet up with the people’s aspirations and developmental policies of the State government .
In his remark, the Bormo state Commissioner of Budget and Planing, Alhaji Babagana Mallambe said ,”the aim of the Town Hall meeting is to have engagement with relevant stakeholders to discuss deliberate abd come up with 2025 budgets that will meets the needs and aspirations of the masses.”
” This meeting is one of the transparency and accountability policy of the government to involve citizens in the budget, preparations, implementation and feedback.
” I therefore, call on the Ministries, Department and Agencies Civil Organisations, clubs associations to contributes, so as to have people oriented budget”, Mallumbe said.
In his submission, the representative of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) commended Governor Zulum for releasing N3 billion to settle pension and gratuity of the retired civil servants, called on the government to extend same to the workers of the local government areas.
He said ” I also wants to appeal to the Governor to fill in the existing vacancies in the civil service by employing more people into the service, as well as construct more housing estates and allocate to the civil servants to address housing deficits in the state.”
Also in his remarks, the Borno State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Dauda Iliya urged the government to organize quarterly media briefing to acquaint citizens of the State the level of budget implementation to enable them track down government expenditures as part of checks and balances system of public funds
The representative of persons with disability, Mr. Ayuba Alamson appealed to the government to employ people with disability into the civil service and also make physically challenges friendly policies, while constructing public buildings and Institutions, as well as make law that will protect PLWD.
