By Bashir Hassan Abubakar
Towards enhancing prudent management of scarce resources aimed at improving service delivery in some critical sectors of Governance, Bauchi State Government, with technical support from USAID funded State Accountability Transparency and Effectiveness (State2State) Activity, Bauchi Field Office has commenced a Five Day high level workshop on development of a two year Medium Term Sector Strategy (MTSS) for Education, Health and Water Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH Sectors.
The objective of the workshop is to, among other things, sharpen participant’s knowledge of MTSS and its importance in strengthening budget preparation process.
In a short welcome address by the State Team Lead (STL) of USAID State2State, Rabi Ekele thanked the high level officers for attending the the meeting personally.
The STL said USAID State2State believes that such meeting will help the State in improving its financial management system that focuses on budget planning, budget transparency, internal control and financial reporting among others.
Ekele said that the purpose of USAID State2State intervention is majorly to increase accountability, transparency and effectiveness in governance and that the need for continues engagement with key state actors was imperative.
While declaring the Workshop open, the State Commissioner for Budget, Economic Planning and Multilateral Coordination, Aminu Hammayo said the workshop could not have come at a better time, especially as Government at both National and Subnational level are grappling with the challenge of entrenching prudent management of scarce resources amidst the fuel subsidy removal.
Represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Idris Sale Giade, the Commissioner noted that the state has an existing ten-year development plan which needs to be looked into with a view to reflect current market realities.
There were goodwill messages from other implementing partners in the State.
The workshop attracted high level participants from the Health, Education, Finance and,WASH sectors of relevant MDAs and CSOs.