Journalists charged to track budget implementation by govt

Journalists have been charged on the need to make budget tracking and reporting part of their responsibilities.

The Managing Director of a Kano – based media organization, Stallion Times, Isiaku Ahmed gave the charge on Wednesday in Lokoja.

He said budget tracking and reporting is capable of ensuring good governance and government at all levels would be forced to faithfully implement their budgets capable of turning around societal fortune for the better.

Ahmed was speaking at a two – day workshop for Budget Tracking being facilitated by Stallion Times in collaboration with the MacArthur Foundation.

The workshop is themed:”Budget Tracking and Reporting: Get Involved, Dialogue and Improved Projects – GDRIP.”

Ahmed said budget tracking has become necessary in view of the role of Journalists in information management as well as the role of budget in the social and economic lives of the people.

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According to him, the workshop is aimed at building the capacity of Journalists on budget process and procedures,train them on how to track and report constituency as well as development and writing of investigative story ideas on constituency projects.

He described the timing of the workshop as apt, adding that the knowledge derived from the exercise would impact on the job of Journalists whose duty is to report government activities to the public.

“This is the ending of transition to a new government and end to an existing regime which must give account to the people,” he said.

He noted that in tracking and reporting budget, Journalists must have the necessary information on the amount budgeted for certain projects, how the money would be generated and spent among others for effective monitoring.

A resource person at the event, Mr Henry Omokaiye stressed the need for Journalists to track and report budget from the formulation to the last segment of preparation to ensure a budget that fulfilled peoples’ yearnings and aspirations.

He called on the ministries responsible for budget to do their work within their limit in terms of allocating resources to projects, adding that budget calendar must be stable from year to year and allow key stakeholders adequate time to effectively participate in the planning process for the document to meet its aims and objectives.

Omokaiye urged Nigerians to participate actively in budget processes and procedures to ensure good governance.

In their reactions, participants applauded the organizations responsible for workshop and said it has opened their eyes to many areas as it concerns budget tracking, saying it has prepared them for the task ahead.