The Executive Director, Conscience For Human Right and Conflict Resolution (CHRCR), Comrade Idris Miliki has described the 2020 budget proposal presented to the Kogi State House of Assembly by Governor Yahaya Bello as a mere “cut and paste document” that cannot gurantee prosperity for the citizens as promised.
In a statement issued in Lokoja on Friday, Miliki berated the state government for presenting the N176 billion 2020 appropriation bill without input from citizens, despite several advocacy efforts by stakeholders.
He queried the non-provision of fund for conduct of local government elections and called on the Kogi State House of Assembly to organize a public hearing on the “unjustifiable budget proposal”.
“It is worrisome that despite the various efforts by citizens of Kogi state to be part of the budgetary process, the executive prepared, and submitted a budget of N176 billion without input of the citizens beyond the civil servants and political appointee.
“We frown at the budgetary process in Kogi State that has remained a cut and paste process, without priority areas such as industrialization of the state, employment generation, housing, health, and agriculture.
“The sad issue is that there is no correlation between the beautiful New Direction Agenda target documents and the budgets so far.
“It is ridiculous for a budget that would kick start a new administration in January 2020, could not tell the citizens the number of houses to be built in the next one year, despite the fact that the biggest Cement factory is located in the state. It could not tell the people the number of jobs to be created in the state in the next one year.
“More worrisome and condemnable is the lack of provision or even mention of the conduct of elections into the local government councils more than 4 years after.
“Does it mean that the citizens would remain hopeless in respect to the establishment of democracy at the local government level? Yet this government has claimed to have spent over N13 billion in 2019 in the Government House, which is not a revenue generating entity, is yet proposing to spend a monumental N25 billion in 2020. What is the justification of these humongous expenses for a government that has not commissioned a single bedroom in terms of housing and has failed to conduct Local Government elections?
“What is the rationale and justification for the continued violation of Section 7(1) of the 1999 constitution as amended? In respect of conduct of Local Government Council elections. It is worrisome and condemnable the level of frivolous and unjustifiable expenses estimates that has been repeated in the 2020 budget estimates as presented to the Kogi State House of Assembly on the 4th December 2019.
“We therefore call on the Kogi State House of Assembly to organize a public hearing on this unjustifiable budget proposal. We call on them to read this budget proposal in details and make further arrangements and re-arrangements and approve areas that can develop the state an make provision for the conduct of local government elections as all institutions put in place by law must respect the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.
Miliki called on the citizens of Kogi State, within and outside the country, not to abandon the state but continue to engage the state institutions of governance.
