Journalists Tasked on In-depth Budget Tracking, Investigation

Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

A veteran journalist and a member of the Board of Trustees of Media Trust Foundation, Chief Ishiaq Ajibola, has made a strong case for  more  in-depth budget analysis, tracking  and investigation among journalists in the country in order to entrench transparency and accountability in the art of the nation’s governance.

Speaking in Ilorin, Kwara state capital yesterday  at the three-day workshop for journalists across the North Central zone of the country, Ajibola, however said that  it was high time journalists scrutinised and ask questions on  budgets implementation in order to enhance the  socio well- being of the populace.

The theme of the workshop  is ‘Budget Tracking and Investigating Public Expenditure.’

Ajibola  said: “The budget, whether federal or state, determines the fate of the people; the direction of government and its policies; it speaks about the quality of choices being made by those in power; it shows their values; it tells on the quality of life of the people – healthcare, education, water, energy, transportation and infrastructure in general.

“This is why journalists must scrutinize budgets. It is not an issue that should be left to the president, his ministers and national assembly members alone.

“Journalists must ask questions about the budget – the sources of revenue and how the revenue is being spent. This is what it means to hold government accountable to the people, as enunciated in Section 22 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

“We must ask government to explain how the funds generated by its agencies on behalf of the people are spent. Journalists have the rare privilege of being given that responsibility to ask questions on behalf of the Nigerian people.

“To an extent, investigative reporters ask this question of the federal government. But not of state governments. We are in a country where state governors escape with murder! I know a state where the budget is mere mockery of what is called a budget, because it is not taken seriously.

“ In that state, there is no accountability. The people are not clear about how funds received from the Federal Government and those generated internally are utilised. Even salaries and other remunerations for civil servants are not paid.

“There are no visible projects to point at; a state where contractors and tractors are mobilized to site for a project and then they are moved away never to return! Nobody knows how the state is run and no one asks questions; not even journalists.”

Ajibola therefore, called on the journalists in the country to brace up to this challenge so as to add more values to the lives of the rural populace in the country.