Civil society organisations in Taraba State have challenged citizens to move beyond submitting demands during budget consultations and should take responsibility for monitoring projects captured in the state’s annual budget.
The Chairman of the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations in Taraba State, Dr Joseph Gimba, gave the charge during the 2027 Citizens Engagement Budget Consultation Forum organised by the State Ministry of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning in collaboration with the Network of Civil Society for Community Development in Taraba.
Dr. Gimba said public participation in budget preparation would have little impact if citizens failed to follow up on projects and programmes after they had been captured in the appropriation.
He urged communities to identify their priority needs, establish the level of government responsible for addressing them and monitor implementation to ensure that public resources translated into tangible development.
According to him, citizens should not leave the entire responsibility for project identification and monitoring to government officials and politicians.
He said, “You submit, we don’t follow up. This is the start to it. When you submit, you follow up where you have a problem of following up. We will help you follow up.”
Dr. Gimba also advised communities to properly separate projects that could be handled by local governments from those requiring state or federal intervention.
He said, the approach would prevent communities from presenting demands beyond the responsibilities or financial capacity of particular tiers of government.
The CSO leader further encouraged communities to engage their elected representatives over federal constituency and zonal intervention projects, stressing that beneficiaries should determine the projects they genuinely require instead of leaving such decisions entirely to politicians.
He said civil society organisations had previously intervened in monitoring public projects and advocating policy changes in the state.
Dr. Gimba cited the change of name of the College of Agriculture to the College of Agriculture, Science and Technology and the establishment of the Taraba State Disability Commission as examples of initiatives in which civil society organisations played advocacy roles.
He urged stakeholders participating in the 2027 budget consultation to ensure that their proposals were specific, realistic and capable of addressing identifiable development challenges.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Dr. Sarah Enoch Adi, said the citizens’ engagement constituted the foundation of the state’s 2027 budget preparation process.
Dr. Adi, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Douglas Kisava, said the administration adopted the bottom-up approach to ensure that the needs of communities were considered in planning and resource allocation.
“If you don’t lay your foundation well, you will lose it. This engagement is the beginning of budget preparation,” she said.
She urged stakeholders to make credible submissions, noting that development should not be measured only by physical infrastructure but should also include investment in human capital.
The commissioner highlighted government investments in postgraduate education and training of public officials as part of its human capital development efforts.
She said the administration was committed to strengthening the capacity of the civil service through training and retraining to improve its contribution to the state’s development.
The President of the Taraba State Traditional Council of Chiefs, His Majesty Dr Ishaku Adda Ali, commended the state government for involving citizens in the budget process.
The monarch urged participants to tell government their actual needs and priorities, while cautioning against unrealistic demands.
“We will tell him our requirements, we will tell him our needs, our priorities. By so doing, he is going to do whatever we want, not what he wants,” he said.
Earlier, the Chairman of Wukari Local Government Area, Hon Bala Huissaini, said the consultation would enable communities to contribute to the formulation of the 2027 budget and ensure that government programmes addressed grassroots needs.
The consultation brought together traditional rulers, local government chairmen, women and youth groups, persons with disabilities, religious and community leaders and civil society organisations from Wukari, Donga, Takum, Ussa and Ibi local government areas.
The exercise formed part of the state’s zonal consultations towards the preparation of the 2027 budget.
This angle makes the story less about “government consults citizens” and more about “CSOs demand accountability after budget proposals are made,” giving it a stronger governance and public-interest hook.
