The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, has assured Nigerians that the 2024 budget would be the “people’s budget” that will address the economic hardships faced by Nigerians.
Abbas, who gave this assurance on Monday at the town hall meeting on the budget organised by the Green Chamber of the National Assembly, said the meeting was aimed at ensuring public participation in the deliberations on the 2024 Appropriation Bill.
According to him, the town hall meeting will help Nigerians to understand the hard choices that budgeting entails and also enhance the transparency of government spending.
He said: “As representatives of the people, it is our duty to ensure that the annual appropriation reflects the needs and aspirations of every Nigerian citizen.
“Your participation in this town hall meeting underscores the essence of democracy — the power of the people to engage actively in governance and decision-making processes.
“You are invited to closely examine the 2024 budget proposal as presented to the national assembly by Mr. President.
“Your contributions must go beyond mere criticisms to constructive and evidence-based suggestions on how we can improve the budget process and make the budget more responsive to the needs of all Nigerians.
“The town hall provides a platform for direct engagement between legislators and citizens, focusing on matters related to the national budget. This is crucial to enhancing the transparency of government spending.
“It also allows the public to be more informed about how public funds are to be used and, by so doing, build greater trust in government institutions.
“More importantly, however, this town-hall will allow the national assembly to understand citizens’ needs better and explore ways to address them through the budget”, Abbas added.
The Speaker also told participants that the House of Representatives’ lawmakers would consolidate on the public members’ engagement in the budgetary proposal discourse by ensuring that the 2025 budget is discussed at constituency level.
The lawmaker listed one of the major challenges in fiscal legislation in the country as lack of a functional government mechanism that reflects citizens’ input in the budgeting process.
He said: “We expect that the 2025 budget will be discussed at the constituency level to ensure greater inclusion and engagement with diverse stakeholders at the grassroots level.
“In 2017, it ranked Nigeria 13 out of 100 points in public participation. This poor ranking was due to the dominant role played by the political elite and government bureaucrats in the budgeting process.
“While some progress has been made since 2017, many traditional challenges remain. The most notable is the absence of functional government mechanisms that show how citizens’ input informs the budget-making process”, the lawmaker added.
