Nigeria

UNDP Organises High-Level Policy Workshop on Budgetary and Fiscal Policy for Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries

About 125 Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries from Lagos, Kano, Cross River and Ondo states will be the next set of officials comparing notes on how to get their budgets and fiscal planning right, so as to achieve the MDGs in their states.

The two-day training workshops being organised by the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, in the various states, under its Fiscal Policy Capacity Initiative, will kick off from Lagos, from 27 – 28 March 2008, at the Peninsula Resort, Km 25, Lagos-Epe Express Way, Ajah, Lagos State.

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, is expected to declare the workshop open at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday 27 March, 2008. Twenty five officials from each state are expected to take part in the workshop. (The media is invited to the opening ceremony).

Participants at the workshop will discuss, among other topics, laying the foundation for sound fiscal management and better development results; developing state fiscal responsibility bills and procurement reform laws; maximizing internally generated revenue base; assessing the tax base and developing a comprehensive tax policy, as well as evolving a sustainable debt management strategy at the state level. Also on the bill is planning for poverty reduction and growth, and managing windfalls – ideas and options for handling the rebates on debt relief and distributions from the excess crude account, among others.

UNDP considers the development of capacity of the states in these areas as critically important because the state governments control around 50 percent of public expenditure, and according to the Constitution, they have the primary responsibility for delivering core public services. The training workshop will enhance the capacity of the states in tracking how resources are mobilised, allocated and budgeted to achieve the MDGs, foster sustainable growth and wealth creation, thereby increasing public confidence and trust in the institutions of governance and deepening the roots of democracy.

The need to address these challenges at the state level informed UNDP’s collaboration with Lagos, Cross River, Kano, Ondo and Akwa Ibom state governments in the Fiscal Policy Capacity Building (FPCB) initiative. This intervention involves three areas of focus namely (i) diagnosing state level capabilities, (ii) promoting dialogue with political leaders and policy makers, and (iii) engaging strategically in capacity development in budget formulation, implementation monitoring and control at the state level. This capacity development programme will be an important addition to what is emerging as a wider UNDP-supported initiative on improving local governance in the country.

Other workshops are scheduled to be held in Kano, from 22- 23 April, 2008; Cross River State, 5 – 6 May, and thereafter hold from 8 – 9 May in Akwa Ibom before winding up in Ondo from 21 – 22 May, 2008;

A two-day policy retreat was organized in Abuja last year, in November, under this initiative to familiarize the political leaders and senior policy makers on the issues of responsiveness, transparency and accountability in public expenditure policies.