Report Ranks Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Cross Rivers Low on Budget Transparency in South-south

*Edo, Akwa Ibom improveOlusegun Samuel in Yenagoa

A new report unveiled at the weekend by a non-governmental organisation, the Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre (CIRDDOC) has revealed that four out of the six states of the south-south region ranked poorly in terms of transparency and accountability in budget and procurement process.
The report, titled, “South-South States Budget Transparency Index 2022,” was launched at the Bayelsa Accountant-General Conference room in Yenago, by the CIRDDOC with support of UKAID, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

It revealed a decline in the average degree of public availability of budget documents in the six states of the region.
It showed that states such as Akwa Ibom and Edo were relatively transparent and provided some considerable amount of budget information to the public, as they scored 60 per cent.

Others such as Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross River and Delta recorded below the average score (43%) scoring 37 per cent, 42 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.
In the area of public availability of budget documents, the table showed that Edo State topped the South-south index scoring 72 per cent in 2022, moving from 48 per cent in 2020. This was followed by Akwa Ibom State that scored 76 per cent in 2020 and 64 per cent in 2022.
Furthermore, it showed that Cross River State in coming third, scored 47 per cent in 2022, from 39 per cent in 2020.Three states performed from the average score and above in the 2022 survey.

While Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers performed below the average with the scores of 38 per cent, 20 per cent and 17 per cent respectively.
The public participation index also showed that Cross River and Akwa Ibom performed above the national average of 28.42 per cent. However, Akwa Ibom, Edo and Rivers states in the 2022 survey showed a downward trend from the 2020 survey.

The survey further revealed that Bayelsa and Delta States performed below the national average.
The Zonal Coordinator of the CIRDDOC, Dr. Tubo Pearce Okumoko, in his analysis, explained that the result of the survey was drawn from over 94 questions asked from officials of the states’ Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning,” adding that some of the problems are issue of uploading of budget information untimely and some documents were not uploaded “

He recommended that there, “should be legal framework/foundations for all financial transactions of government, the administrative and regulatory frameworks for the management of public finance should be in the public domain.”
Most of the representatives of the States including the Bayelsa Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Hon. Alameiseigha Akpoebide, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Felix Asingbi, agreed to the self-appraising nature of the survey and promise improvement.

The Permanent Secretary, Felix Asingbi, said “In Bayelsa, the issue of transparency and accountability in budget planning is given serious attention. For us, whether rated low or high, we will continue to work on participatory budgeting.”