By Bashir Hassan Abubakar
Thirty (30) participants drawn from select MDAs of the Bauchi State Civil Service, LG administration and CSOs have converged in Bauchi in meeting tagged “Bauchi State Fiscal Year 4, 2024 Pause and Reflect”.
The Pause and Reflect meeting was organised by USAID Funded State Accountability, Transparency, and Effectiveness (State2State) Activity Bauchi field office.
In a welcome remark, USAID State2State Bauchi Team Lead, Rabi Ekele appreciated the participants for the impressive turnout.
Ekele said the meeting will review some of the achievements of citizen engagement during the 2024 budget and identify the gaps during the consultation process of the budget.
LGA Coordinator of State2State Abubakar Sadeeq said that, part of the objective of the Pause and Reflect meeting was to identify and capture lessons learned, and proffer recommendations that can be used to improve performance and outcomes.
Sadeeq also said the review meeting was aimed at eliciting views of both state and non-state stakeholders on the implementation of State2State activities in Bauchi State among other objectives.
Some of the key outcomes of the meeting was the recommendation of the participants that centered on Capacity training for Bauchi State MDAs on how to write a sound memo.
They also recommend to the Bauchi State House of Assembly to explore the possibility of calling for budget public hearing before passing budgets.
Other recommendations were focused on calling MDAs to align their budget with the State Strategic Plan and to stop the delay in submitting budget proposals to the State Ministry of Budget and Planning.