March 19, 2021. (NAN) Farmers under the aegis of Association of Small Scale Agro Producers (ASSAPIN) have called on Nasarawa State Government to involve community stakeholders in its budgeting process for effectivness.
Mr Joshua Jonathan, National President of ASSAPIN made a call on Friday at a one-day workshop on inclusive budgeting using Community Development Plan (CDP) held in Akwanga.
The workshop was organised in collaboration with the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Mada Hills, an NGO, to enlighten community stakeholders how to prioritise their needs and push for its inclusion in government’s budget.
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Jonathan said that including commuity stakeholders in the budgeting process especially for the agriculture sector, would boost crop production, guarantee food sufficiency and security.
He said the community development plan approach would enable governent to be more specific in budgeting and effectively monitor implementation.
Jonathan said the essence of the workshop was to enlighten participants on the role they could play in order for their communities to benefit from the government’s budget.
He explained that to contribute in a budgeting process, communities must harness their needs in a written document which would be presented to the government as the Community Development Plan (CDP).
“Communities can submit their CDP to their Community Development Officer at local government area level who in turn will also collate and send to Budget Department of the local government area for inputs in the LGA budget and state budget,” he said.
He said without a CDP, representatives of some communities sometimes are not aware of government’s plan for their communities, hence the need for adoption of the CDP to entrench impactful and inclusive budgeting.
He added that the use of CDP and citizens engagement and participation in governance, especially on what is budgeted for their communities was pivotal to accelerating growth in the communities.
Also speaking, Mr Ango Adamu, Executive Secretary, YMCA Mada Hills, said government stand to gain a lot if they adopt inclusive budgeting using the CDP model.
“Kaduna and Taraba states are already making use of the CDP model and getting extra grants.
“If this process is adopted and implemented, additional money will come to the state government to improve on the livelihood of the people,” he said.
Mrs Naomi Chugbe, one of the participants lauded the organisers of the workshop saying it would go a long way in creating awareness for farmers in the grassroots on how put forward their needs in the government budget for support.
“It is going to create awareness among farmers in the villages that they can come together whether in the aspect of farming or other projects, put down the needs of their specific communities for intervention. (NAN)
