The Oyo State House of Assembly has called on the executive arm of government to ensure that members of the public participate in the documentation of the yearly budget through a public hearing.
In a motion moved by the House chairman on Appropriation Bills and Budgeting, Mr Olusegun Olaleye, noted that in 100 survey carried out by International Budget Partnership (IBP) this year, the average score for public participation in the budget process was 19 out of 100.
The lawmaker lamented that public participation in budget process over the years had not been practiced in the state, adding that the unfortunate situation was not alien to Nigerian State, except in Lagos and Ekiti State where a reasonable success had been recorded.
According to him, good public participation practices will help governments to be more accountable and responsive to the masses.
He added that it would also improve the public's perception of governmental performance and the value the public receives from the government which guarantees effective budget implementation.
Experience has shown that the relevance of participatory budgeting to governance especially in a democratically elected government would among others improve performance by better understanding what the public wants and expect from government and adjust services and service levels more closely to citizen’s preferences," he said
The motion was also seconded by other lawmakers which included, Segun Ajanaku, Michael Adeyemo, Joshua Olagunju, Farintan Fakorede among others.
The lawmakers called on the executive through the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budgeting to ensure that the public is carried along in the preparation for 2014 budget estimates through town hall meetings across the 33 local government areas of the state.
They also enjoined the government to encourage input from relevant civil society organizations especially in the area of data collection, adding that the assembly should make it a matter of priority to organize public hearing during the consideration of 2014 draft estimates.
