Daily Independent (Lagos)
By Daniel Kanu
3 August 2009
Abuja — About 80 per cent of the budget set aside by the European Union (EU) for the development efforts in the country has remained unaccessed due to internal bureaucratic bottlenecks, experts revealed at the weekend.
EU Support to Reforming Institutions Programme (SRIP), in a statement said the inability of the relevant agencies and institutions to access the fund has hampered the implementation of programmes and attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
A 12-point communiquÈ issued at the end of a three-day workshop organised by EU-SRIP on aid management and coordination, described the situation as unacceptable.
The workshop was organised for State Authorising Officers (SAOs) and their deputies from Anambra, Cross River, Jigawa, Kano, Osun and Yobe states.
If an estimated percentage of about 20 is spent and 80 per cent left unaccessed due to bureaucratic bottlenecks that are internal, the communiquÈ noted, Nigerians woiuld be the worse for it as development programmes and their target objectives would remain unattained.
,,It is unacceptable that a country budget provided by the EU to support Nigeria,s development is not accessed, used or spent for development purposes for which they were approved in the first place,,, the document said.
Observing the need for the entrenchment of the culture of integrity, accountability and transparency, participants in the workshop endorsed effort at different levels of government to implement these values and called for penalties for defaulters through due process and appropriate legal instruments.
According to the communiquÈ, responsible agents must be empowered with tools for effective donor management and coordination, even as it called for the harmonisation of procedures among SAOs, the National Authorising Officer at the National Planning Commission, the EU and MDAs.
According to the communiquÈ, the financing agreement between the European Commission and Federal Government aims at achieving a transparent budgeting processes, and citizens who could, through civil society organisations participate effectively in the budget process could highlight cases of corruption and business crimes.
,,Time has come when the famous excuse for failures on development projects based on Nigerian factor should be expunged in our dictionary. We belong to a global village with standards and cannot allow others occupy the space and fulfill expectations even in more difficult conditions when, with a little more discipline, we could achieve development goals,,, participants said.
The three-day training workshop had the goals of increasing the knowledge of participants on key development concepts, issues of aid co-ordination and the application of the concepts to development challenges facing states in Nigeria.
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