…No past administration attracted a dime from World Bank- Commissioner
By Jennifer John
Budget and planning, as well as accurate statistics are the livewire of any government, institution, corporate organization or even private life.
Without proper planning and commensurate budgeting, funds would be indiscriminately spent without achieving any tangible result.
Part of the criteria to identify a serious administration of government is how well structured its economic planning and budgeting is. Not only does it ensure proper planning and adequate budgeting it also attract monetary incentive to states in developing countries like Nigeria.
The above seems to be the selling point of the 3R agenda administration in Imo State, led by Senator Hope Uzodimma.
The news of the exploit being made by the budgeting and economic planning sector has been reverberating in the ears of people who wish to hear, across the state, country and world at large.
In its set objective to unravel some achievements of the 3R government, through different Ministries, Agencies, Departments and Parastatals, the 3R Monitor of The Statesman Newspapers approached the Honourable Commissioner for Budget, Economic Planning and Statistics, Dr. C.C Osuala for firsthand information from the direct source on the stated exploits being made by the 3R administration through the ministry.
Fielding questions from the 3R Monitor, the commissioner said, on assumption of office he met a moribund ministry that was not focused in terms of deliverables for the citizens, adding that he found out that the budget of the state was opaque and completely non transparent in international standard.
According to the commissioner, the governor mandated him to shade light of transparency on the budget which made the ministry commence the process of linking the state’s budget to State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) programme, a World bank programme.
“Upon publishing that document, as far back as April 2020, Imo State was admitted into the World Bank Transparency Programme and with that admission came some rewards. The initial fund that was given to Imo State was five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for attaining the height of budgetary transparency. It was the first time Imo State budget was linked online where you can access all the budgetary expenditures and revenue generation of the state at www.imostate.gov.ng under budget”.
He said part of the process was a study and sensitization of Imo citizens to find out the charter of needs of every nook and cranny of the state through which they were able to ascertain the demands of over six hundred communities of the state, through the charter of demands which were published online, as priority projects that cover the 27 LGAs of the state.
According to Commissioner Osuala, also to meet SFTAS requirements as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak, the budget inherited from Emeka Ihedioha administration in 2020 was downsized to reflect how the state government was taking care of Imo State citizens in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We found out through that downsizing that about 14.2 percent of the total budgetary expenditure were being used to protect the citizens from the attacks of COVID-19, in terms of palliative and other programmes, such as provision of facemasks, hand gloves, sanitizers and others, across the state, at various points and institutions.
When we reflected that and World Bank went to the database of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to verify, they found out that Imo was the least in terms of states that recorded cases and deaths, it validated the claim of statistical number of 14.2 percent being used to take care of citizens of Imo State and protect them from the attacks of the Covid-19, Imo State was immediately rewarded five million U.S dollars (the first among the South East states)”
The commissioner said having published a budget of Wealth Creation in 2021 and the 2022 budget, titled the people’s budget, Imo State received 11.2 million dollars ($11.2m) as further reward for its budgetary transparency.
Dr. Osuala emphasized that the World Bank SFTAS programme had been around for years, but it was just during the current Hope Uzodimma led administration that Imo was having its budget being recognized, by World Bank and being rewarded with grants.
“These funds are used in building roads, renovation of schools, hospitals and other infrastructural projects you have noticed. This administration is transparent.
“Also we have such programmes as SOCO, where we collect data of the poor and vulnerable people in Imo State. When we arrived here, the data left by previous administrations was about ten thousand, five hundred poor and vulnerable households that were captured across the state, but as we speak, we have captured one hundred and fourty five thousand households. It is a World Bank and federal government programme, whereby such households receive palliative on monthly and quarterly basis from World Bank, through the federal government, to be able to sustain their livelihood”.
Dr. Osuala made it emphatic that there is no basis to compare achievements of the present government and previous ones, especially in the area of budget, planning and statistics. He said since inception of Imo State from 1976, no administration has received any dime from the world bank as a result of its budget transparency.
“When you want to compare, usually you compare to something. Those administrations scored zero. If you check what we have done in the ministry of budget to other administrations, it’s comparison of one hundred to zero. Comparison of excellence to nothing. World bank had never recognized Imo State budget, to talk of giving the state one million dollars before or even five hundred thousand. It had never happened in the history of Imo State. But as I report to you now, in this month of July, Imo State has received $11.2m, just this month, not those of 2021 and 2020. In 2021, we received over $17m. These are free funds, grants that the state do not have to repay”.
He said the funds are being channelled to building some strategic infrastructures, including building of federal government owned roads that were no go area during previous administrations.
On the criteria used in selecting vulnerable households benefiting from the World Bank and federal government palliative for the poor and vulnerable households, he said it is based on World Bank criteria on how to identify poor and vulnerable households, like families who make less than five thousand naira a month, which fall into the poorest of the poor families.
“It is done in a scientific form, with a gadget from the World Bank which gives the coordinate of the individual or the family and the location. When we get there through GPS technology, we capture the person. It’s a live process. We capture as they ask the person/family questions like; How many children, education level, present occupation and intended occupation.
“So all these are captured and as it is being captured, it reports electronically to the national database, a national register. The information is transmitted instantaneously. It is global standard template developed by the World Bank.
He said families that qualify are paid with their BVN directly from the national treasury, through the ministry of humanitarian affairs, in collaboration with the ministry of finance, while for those who do not have BVN, the funds are given to them at a particular location, at a particular time.
Asked for message for Imo people; whether the ministry has reached the crescendo of what it has in stock or should Imo people expect more, Commissioner Osuala, urged Imo people to expect more from the ministry.
“As we speak, I just returned with my team from a lead economic summit in Soul, South Korea, as approved by His Excellency, Governor Hope Uzodimma. We went to Soul and presented Imo State as investment destination, as a hospitality hub, which have the capacity to absorb many industries because we have a good number of unemployed graduates who are ready to work and contribute to the growth of such industries.
“As I speak to you, over seven companies, famous companies resident in South Korea have showed interest in coming into Imo State to build a Smart City. These are companies that have done great works across the world. They build Smart City in Vietnam, Iran, Erak, Soudi Arabia, Israel, Paris. It is Moonyong architects. They are one of the biggest infrastructural development companies on planet earth which specializes in urban development. It is this ministry under my watch, with the full backing of Governor Hope Uzodimma that we travelled to South Korea to attract these.
“Besides building all these fanciful structures that we call Imo Diaspora Smart City that is coming, this will create over two hundred and fifty thousand good paying jobs for indigenes of Imo State. So there is a lot to expect and there is a lot coming.
“What I will caution our people, especially the youths is to avoid being misused and abused by those who are power hungry, who may wish to use them as thugs to make Imo State ungovernable.
In line with the shared prosperity slogan of this administration, I equally wish to inform people that Governor Hope Uzodimma has promised you shared prosperity, but there is equally a social contract behind that. It is equally shared responsibility. Each side has something to contribute. If we can leave peaceful life in our communities, we are contributing to the prosperity of Imo State, through our shared responsibility”.