In Jigawa state, the need for journalists to track budgets is being stressed in a training workshop for journalists. BAYO MUHAMMAD ALABIRA reports.
The International Society for Media in Public Health (ISMPH) has trained journalists on budget tracking and utilisation. The non-governmental organisation organised the one-day training workshop for journalists in the state with a view to eradicating the misplacement of priority and waste of funds by state governors.The training officer of ISMPH, Mrs Bunmi Awada, explained that governors normally make good proposals in their yearly appropriation bills with all sorts of allocations, but said implementation which is a vital aspect is left out without the neccesary attention.
Essence of training
The training session anchored by Mrs Awada and Mr Kenneth Okoineng, mostly emphasised the need for media organisations to track budgets, monitor it and make sure that allocations to various projects are spent according to specification.
The resource persons further explained that budget tracking and utilisation is neccesary to enable the human aspects of the budget to be utilised. This is because any budget that is well planned is meant to take care of child nutrition policy in order to reduce the negative impact of malnutrition among the younger ones.
Accordingly, a state like Jigawa is among others in the country with the highest number of children suffering from malnutrition. These cases are normally found in hard-to-reached areas of the state. At the rural areas, there are lot of problems associated with malnutrition that hinder the growth of these children whose cases spanned from lack of good, adequate and nutrious food that can build their body system and make them grow expectedly.
To that extent, the sum of N150.58 billion is appropriated as 2021 budget proposal by Governor Mohammed Badaru Abubakar before the state House of Assembly.
In the proposal, some key sectors that are too important in relation to human aspects like health is inclusive. 50% of the total budget is therefore earmarked to education and health.
Although this report has been streamlined to health sector which has been allocated the sum of N13.5% below the target mark of Abuja declaration, it is a major recipient of development assistance from the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for LAFIYA and Support for National Malaria Programmes in Nigeria (SUNMAP) programmes.
In it, the sum of N12.24 billion is proposed for the health component of the social sector. One-third of the sectoral allocation is to be utilised on completion of general hospitals across the state. This has been distributed among the various projects and programmes in line with the sectoral priorities.
In their various lectures, the resource persons used the time to call on the state government to strive harder in the fight against hunger among the children below the ages of five mostly prevalent in the state. The experts said the means to develop a brilliant and healthy child largely depends on how that child was brought up in the formative years, the types of food fed on the child, especially, what follows after exclusive breast-feeding.
Sectoral budgetary allocations
In order to makes the state compete favourably with others that have improved health system in the country, in the 2021 budget, Birnin Kudu, Hadejia and Kazaure hospitals were allocated about N3.4 billon for completion, equipping and commissioning.
In view of this, the present budget has already passed the first and second reading waiting third reading. Whenever the assembly is done, the budget would be signed into law by the governor and sent to various areas like ministries, agencies, boards and paraststals, units as well as sections it is allocated to.
In line with this development, the 2021 budget approved the continuation of UNICEF-Supported Supplementary Immunisation Activities, funding of ongoing food & nutrition programme including procurement of RUTF and scale-up of Masaki programme, implementation of free maternal and child health programne in councils PHC.
In furtherance of this, the nutrition policy and programme in the 2021 budget support to family planning and reproductive health services and development of 287 ward-level facilities designated for the provision of basic healthcare has been made key.Also, provision is made in the budget for collaboration between the state and World Bank supported Save One Million Lives Health Programme to improve service delivery at the primary healthcare level.
Upgrading of general hospitals
To this end, provision has been made for the improvement and upgrading of general hospitals across the 27 local government areas of the state. Therefore, the sum of N2.6 billion is proposed for the completion, equipping and commissioning of such three hospitals at Garki, Gantsa and Guri. In its first quarter of 2021 budget proposal is the completion of Phase II of the additional structures in 12 general hospitals consisting of outpatient departments, wards, operating theatres and laboratories. There is also further upgrade of 10 PHCs and cottage hospitals at Kiyawa, Yankwashi, Roni, Taura, Kaugama, Bulangu, Kanya Babba, Fagam and Sule Tankarkar.Others include the completion of ongoing upgrading works for Miga, Gwaram, Auyo and Mallam Madori hospitals, procurement of operational vehicles, supply and installation of oxygen plant and Endoscopy Machine at Dutse General Hospital. Provision of solar powered lightening systems in the general hospitals.
In order to improve the health condition of the people in hard-to-reach areas, primary healthcare programmes & projects, the sum of N2.54 billion has been allocated to cover a wide ranging primary healthcare projects and programmes across the state.
Be it as it may, to reduce the suffering encoutered during labour by pregnant mothers in the rural areas, construction and furnishing of 20 midwife quarters, scale-up of community transport service has already been successfully implemented in 17 LGAs.
Also contained in the 2021 budget proposal are the free maternal and child health programmes, and secondary health facilities which has been allocated the sum of N800 million. In the proposed budget, if implemented it would achieve substantial decline in maternal, infant and child mortality rates respectively.
Also to eradicate several diseases that normally disturb households both in urban and rural areas, the sum of N117 million has been proposed for the Support to Malaria, HIV/AIDS, TB and Leprosy Control Programmes.This can only be said to have been achieved if the proposed amount is used for the purpose it is meant for. Again this can only be monitored if the media which is the life-wire puts eyes on implementation of the said proposed amount as it is in the 2021 appropriation bill. The need to follow it religiously and harmoniously in order to know how the funds are utilised among various areas of human interest as stated in the budget is neccesary.
Health training institution The sum of N850 million is proposed to be expended on the improvement of existing health training institutions in the state comprising College of Nursing & Midwifery B/Kudu, School of Nursing Hadejia and School of Health Technology Jahun. This also includes completion of the New School of Midwifery Babura and additional structures and facilities for the School of Health Technology to facilitate its accreditation to a National Diploma awarding institution.
Therefore, the above outlined proposed programmes in the 2021 budget have direct bearings on the lives of the citizens of the state. It is expected that if these proposed projects are implemented, there would be tremendous improvement in health and health facilities across the 27 local government areas.
To this end, the ISMPH training workshop urged the media to always monitor the implementation of the 2021 budget from the first quarter, second quarter, third and fourth quarters of the year. It was also observed that both the media and civil society organisations should take it upon themselves to know whether the implementation is effectively in line with the proposals as contained in the appropriation bill.
Also to cushion the effects of poverty ravaging the less- privileged of the society, the 2021 budget has N845,000,000 million allocated for the “implementation of Cash Transfer for disabled, old-aged, orphans and other vulnerable groups by the state rehabilitation board in collaboration with Budget and Economic Planning Directorate.
To reduce poverty among the society, the provision of N210,000,000 million has been made to take care of the women and people with disability as well as expansion of Goat Breeding Empowerment Initiative (EGBEI) for women by Ministry of Agriculture.
Moreso, the proposed allocation of N1.7 billion comprises the regular women and social welfare, assistance programmes and new interventions to be undertaken under the World Bank Assisted CARES Programme.
