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| Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom |
A consortium of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) said the 2017 budget was poorly implemented and does not meet the yearning and aspiration of the people, especially women.
Addressing a press conference in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, to present the 2017 budget project monitoring report to the media and other stakeholders, the CSOs said the budget was poorly implemented, as some projects remained unexecuted, while no work was carried on some but contracts awarded.
The joint press conference of CSOs consortium was tagged ‘Ensuring Éffective Implementation of Programmes, Policies and Legislation,’ that contribute towards achieving gender equality by 2030.
Mrs. Victoria Esa, who read the text of the press conference and presented the report on behalf of the CSOs on monitoring of capital projects from Benue State Government 2017 budget, said the monitoring of projects was carried out in three (3) local government areas, namely Gwer East, Ado and Tarka local government areas.
Esa stated that from the findings, some projects which would have impacted on the rural people were neither abandoned nor executed.
She said CSOs carried out projects monitoring in two (2) ministries: Ministry for Rural Development and Cooperatives and the Ministry of Works, Transport and Energy.
In the report, she stated that out of 40 projects monitored in communities across three local governments areas, 16 projects amounting to 40percent had no evidence of any work done or commenced; 12 projects making 30percent were incomplete and abandoned, while seven projects making 17 percent have been completed and put to use. She also said work was on-going in five projects (13 percent).
In their recommendation, the CSOs advised that government should involve them at every stage of projects for proper monitoring and execution, and funds should be made available to contractors to return to site and complete the projects as they are people-oriented.
