Gombe 2024 Budget: USAID State2State activity supports stakeholders on preparation of 2024-2026 MTEF
To ensure a realistic and policy-based 2024 budget, the United States Agency for International Development State2State Activity, Gombe Field Office, has conducted a three-day workshop on the preparation of Gombe State 2024-2026 Medium Term Fiscal Framework and Medium-Term Budget Framework.
The workshop held at the conference hall of the Budget, Planning and Development Partner Coordination Office, had participants from Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Office of the Accountant General, Gombe State Internal Revenue Service, Debt Management Department, Gombe State House of Assembly, and the Association of Non-Governmental Organisations.
The Permanent Secretary, Budget, Planning and Development Partner Coordination Office Alhaji Abubakar Dauda Gadam, in an address, urged the participants to work hard and produce an excellent outcome.
In an address of welcome, the State2State Team Lead for Gombe, Alhaji Mohammad Bello Abubakar, said the objective of the workshop was to support Gombe State government to estimate the three-year aggregate government resources from all sources.
He said, “it is to also outline the medium-term budget estimates for each spending agencies based on the state’s strategic priorities and in a manner consistent with the states’ overall fiscal objectives and urged participants to pay attention and participate actively.”
He expressed gratitude to the Gombe state government for providing a free venue for the workshop sustainability.
“This is a clear demonstration of the spirit of partnership, and it will contribute towards the of the Activity even after it exit,” the State Team Lead added.
The Gombe State2State Local Governance Manager, Hajiya Zariyatu Abubakar, in a presentation on ‘Understanding conflict sensitivity and how to apply it in MTEF ‘ said to be conflict sensitive one much understand the conflict dynamics within the context of work.
Abubakar added that a conflict sensitive approach is important in the state because it is based on assumption that, any initiative or intervention conducted in a conflict affected area will interact with that conflict and that such interactions will have consequences that may have positive or negative effect on that conflict.
She explained that a conflict sensitive approach to MTEF development and implementation in the have three steps and are:”understand the context in which you are working especially the dynamics of the relationship between and among groups in the context,secondly understand how the details of the MTEF interact with the context and thirdly act upon this understanding to minimize the negative impacts of the MTEF interventions on the context and maximize the positive impacts. This is done through a review of the MTEF and adjust where need be in order to ensure that the MTEF is properly used to Foster peace and development,” Abubakar added.
She added, “Gains and advantages of a conflict sensitive MTEF are that it promotes inclusivity of citizens, builds trust between government and citizens,enhances government’s responsiveness to citizens’ needs, enhances the effectiveness of government budget and expenditure and it is also used as as a tool to build peace and stability in the state.”
The Gombe State2State Activity Public Financial Management Specialist Mr Oluwatosin Oke, who was the lead Facilitator at the workshop, provided the foundation for the MTEF process to be followed in the state.
He explained that MTEF has three components, The Medium Term Fiscal Framework( MTFF), Medium Term Budget Framework (MTBF ),Medium Term Sector Strategy (MTSS).
“The workshop covers the MTFF and MTBF and that Participants will be looking at all the data available and estimating all the revenue the state will get.They will then share to all sectors and MDAs who will work on their budget proposal and then submit back to the central agency of government,” Oke said .
He said the goal of the workshop is to ensure that the budget process is participatory and realistic hence the invitation all relevant stakeholders to be part of the workshop.
Oke said MTFF is a scientific framework for estimating aggregate resources available and expenditure using realistic macroeconomic assumptions.
He said sources of data must be verifiable and transparent and should be clearly stated in MTBF document.
Some participants interviewed described the workshop as a good learning experience and an eye opener to budget planning.
Mr Haruna Karu, a planning officer at the Budget, Planing and Development Partner Coordination Office said he has learnt the stages of budgeting and will help him contribute meaningfully to 2024 Gombe Budget.
He said Mainstreaming Conflict sensitivity in MTEF is also another take home home saying he has learnt to be objective and unbiased in budget processing.
Comrade Gloria Usman from ANGO described the workshop as timely ,very educative and interactive.
“We have discussed budget of Gombe State, it performance, how monies come in and how they are expended.I have seen that resources are so lean and demands, overweighing the resources we have in the state hence there is need to prioritise projects according to emerging needs,” she said.
At the end of the three day intensive and interactive workshop, participants produced a draft Economic and Fiscal Update, Fiscal Strategy Paper, and Budget Policy Statement, document to guide the 2024 budget preparation and to deepen budget realism and effective linkage of policy to budget in the state.
The draft EFU-FSP-BPS will be finalized in June/July 2023 after the release of the Federal Government’s MTEF/FSP for 2024-2026.
