Budget’s impact on women’s welfare, poverty reduction minimal, says group

KABETKACHE WOMEN DEVELOP MENT and Resource Centre, a community action education advocacy project, says the impact of Nigeria’s budget on women’s welfare and poverty reduction is abysmally minimal. As a result, projects undertaken in these areas indicate an absolute less value for money.

Besides, Kabetkache says there is still high-level ignorance of the budget by the people, which often makes them not to ask questions on projects in line with budgetary provisions.

Emem Okon, executive director of the group said a study they carried out, a “Kabetkache budget advocacy groups on financing for development projects” under the Oxfam strategic partnership (Oxfam SP-F4D) buttressed their findings.

To this, she has urged government at all levels in Nigeria to ensure that there is absolute value for money in all projects executed.

Meanwhile, the group in a joint survey effort with Tax Justice Platform on the effects of prohibitive taxation in Delta, Cross River, Enugu and Rivers states, mobilised community members to campaign for ‘fair taxation.’

The financing for development project seeks to promote fair taxation practices and participatory budgeting towards enhancing transparency and accountability by governments.

In collaboration with Oxfam, the UK aid agency, Kabetkache since 2016-2018 has trained over 800 community men and women on community needs assessment, fair taxation practices and participatory budgeting by especially state governments. Other areas covered are: gender responsive budgeting, monitoring of budget implementation.

However, Okon lamented that despite these awareness raising trainings, the budget process in especially the federating states is anything but open and participatory. Many times, after the governor have presented the state appropriation bill, that is the end of the story of the budget. When it would be debated by the state Assembly, passed to when the governor signs it into law are all shrouded in exclusion and secrecy.

“Lack of awareness, poverty, and inequality limit the participation of community members, especially the women. Hence, Kabetkache is committed to strengthening the efforts of community members working to improve their conditions by providing education and information; and collaborate on community-based projects aimed at developing community members,” she said in an interview with the media in Port Harcourt.

Henry Ushie, a representative of Oxfam, said, “government should ensure a fair and progressive tax system that is not anti-poor.”

He said the recently approved new value added tax (VAT) of 7.5 percent is “wrongly timed, as it will shoot up inflation and further impoverish the poor.”

Ushie said by the Oxfam SPF4D) project, Oxfam seeks to build capacity of community people and create linkages between the communities and government.

One of the Oxfam SPF4D project monitors and executive director of Pius Dukor Foundation for Development and Advancement, Pius Dukor, said that most of the projects they monitored in Port Harcourt city fell below budgetary estimates and approval.

Dukor made a roll call of projects in Rivers State in which funds have been duly released, yet there were no or very poor signal of implementation taking place (as at when they visited the sites).

But government representatives from the Rivers ministries of Women Affairs and Health however, disputed the claims by the foundation, declaring rather that the state government was doing everything within its powers to enhance living standards of the citizens.

They however, asked for collaboration of the non-governmental organizations and citizens’ participation in governance and government budgetary process, so as to leverage on the opportunity of information on government programs and activities.