Civil society groups in the Niger Delta have called on people at the grassroots to monitor the financial flows as well as the level of budget implementation in their communities.

They charged them to pay specific attention to how local government finances are responding to their needs in key sectors such as health, education, water and sanitation, as well as agriculture.

This was contained in a statement endorsed by Faith Paulinus at the end of the Niger Delta Open Budget Forum (NDOBF) 2024, themed “Making Local Government Financial Autonomy Work for the Niger Delta: The Transparency Imperative,” which was organized by Policy Alert on Thursday in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital.
Paulinus noted that openness is paramount in ensuring that the fiscal autonomy recently granted to local governments leads to meaningful improvements in the lives of citizens.

While calling for increased transparency around fiscal flows to local government councils in the region and how they were expended, he regretted the level of opacity at that level across the region.

The statement in part: “The meeting afforded stakeholders and participants from both demand and supply sides the opportunity to assess the recent granting of fiscal autonomy to local governments from a transparency lens.

“The idea was to draw up practical strategies for citizens’ engagement with local governments for sustainable and people-driven fiscal governance at the grassroots level in the Niger Delta.

“While we have witnessed wide-ranging reforms across the region in the areas of fiscal responsibility, budget transparency, audit, and freedom of information, fiscal governance at the local government level across the region remains very opaque.”