USAID S2S Activity reviews performance of PFM reforms in Gombe State
The United States Agency International Development, State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness State to State Activity has held a quarterly Pause and Reflect session on Public Finance PFM Reforms supported by the activity in Gombe State.
The activity held at the custodian hotel, Gombe reflected on activities conducted in the period under review, what went well and what needed to be done better, for greater achievements of the state to state activity.
The objectives of the pause and reflect activity are to share experiences and knowledge, generate new insights for program interventions,elicit the views of stakeholders on the implementation of State2State activities that can be applied to adjust, adapt implementation, and maximise results.
Other objectives included to identify and capture lessons learned and recommendations that can be used to improve project performance and outcomes, strengthen the collaboration among both state and non-state actors, State2State, and other implementing partners.
The S2S Gombe State Team Lead, Mr Abubakar Muhammad, who gave an overview and Progress of Gombe State2State Activity from October 2020 to date, said the activity is a five-year project funded by USAID and implemented by DAI Global, in Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Ebonyi,Gombe and Sokoto States.
“S2S increases accountability, transparency and effectiveness in States and LGAs, particularly in PFM, by supporting States to improve planning and budgeting, Monitoring Evaluationand Learning , MEL, Internal Revenue Generation (IGR), increasing Civil Society Organisations CSOs participation, and overseeing primary service delivery in the PrimaryHealth Centres, Education, and Water Sanitation and Hygiene WASH sectors. Noteworthily, Partner States have a combined allocations to education, health, and WASH sectors as a percentage of the total 2023 approved budget as follows: Adamawa (19.1%), Akwa Ibom (24.8%), Bauchi(31%), Ebonyi (22%), Gombe (39.3%), and Sokoto (35%).• Conflict mitigation, citizen participation, and gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) are core principles advanced by S2S to improve governance and these public services for State to State,” Muhammad explained.
He said Gombe state was the first to receive S2S leadership and that, transformation committee made of Technocrats, Experts and CSOs was established in december 2020.
The STL added, “The Government has demonstrated strong political will: Provision of Office to S2S, Mr.Governor attending the Activity/ProjectLaunch (March 2021), signing into the Open Government Partnership OGP(2022), and personally attending the Federal policy Dialogue in Abuja in August 2022.”
The S2S Gombe State PFM Specialist Oluwatosin, said State 2 State activity is a PFM centric project with an objective dedicated to Increased efficiency of Sub National Government Operations: strengthening governance systems with a focus on public financial management and procurement, as well as monitoring and evaluation related to the delivery of services in the key sectors of basic education, primary health care, and water, sanitation and hygiene [WASH]).
He said towards achieving this objective, State2State delivered several PFM interventions to include,preparation of 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework MTEF, Economic and Fiscal Updates EFU,Fiscal Strategy Paper FSP, Budget Policy Statement BPS and Medium Term Sector Strategies MTSS.
In budget preparation, Mr Oke explained, included participatory budgeting that involved Community Charter of Demand CCD, town halls, National Chart Of Account NCOA and citizens budget.
Other interventions according to the PFM Specialist, are 2023 Budget Profiling and Cash planning, inclusive procurement training and value for money inspection,annual procurement planning,state budget manual preparation.
Intervention support on revenue mobilisation and debt management Mr Oke said included, “Development of Gombe IGR expansion strategy , Gombe IGR public-private dialogue,preparation of 2022 debt sustainability analysis, public debt management & fiscal responsibility training,interventions/support on revenue mobilisation and debt management.”
In an interview with Periscope Nigeria, the Executive Director Standard and Compliance, Gombe State Revenue Service Mr Nuhu Bulus, said state to state activity has been implementing programmes in accordance with government’s reform agenda.
Bulus said, “State to State has brought alot of reforms in terms of the IGR one among many is the IGR expansion strategy document which they brought on board and we were able to harness and has brought increase in the revenue of the state.”
“between 2020 to 2022 there had been over a hundred percent increment of Gombe State IGR because as at the end of 2019 there was about six point eight billion naira and at the end 2022, there was over thirteenth point three billion naira,” he added.
He said State to State has also brought about transparency and accountability in the use of government resources by improve in the budget processes.
“In the Audit section they were to ensure that the audit bill has been reviewed and passed into law. So by and large state to state has improved public financial management of Gombe State,”Mr Nuhu noted,
Also, The Gombe State Chairman, Association of Non-Governmental Organisations ANGO, Mr Ibrahim Yusuf, said State to State has done alot by bringing all stakeholders together to discuss public financial issues of Gombe State.
“It has also brought line ministries to stand on their toes ,before their coming stakeholders were not involved in budget processes but now they are involved,” Mr.Yusuf added.
The ANGO Chairman advised for more involvement of stakeholders so that there will more acceptability of the S2S Activity.
