Photo: Vanguard

Budget 2013

Civil society groups in Lagos are set to engage the state government on the latter's 2013 budget next week.

The groups, under the Lagos state Civil Society Partnership (LACSOP), said the move is in line with its citizens' engagement project aimed at strengthening leadership and accountability in governance.

The engagement, which would hold via twitter on the LACSOP account -twitter.com/LACSOP using the Hashtag #LAGBUDGET, is designed to provide opportunity for stakeholders in Lagos to seek clarification through virtual dialogue on the specific direction of the 2013 budget of the state.

The event, which is supported by the State Accountability and Voice Initiative (SAVI), a programme of the Department for International Department (DFID), is the first of its kind in the state and is expected to attract media representatives and a large number of civil society organisations in Lagos state.

The tweets will feature raising salient points on the Lagos State 2013 budget and tasking representatives of the government to respond to queries on the budget.

Ayo Adebusoye, Coordinator of LACSOP, while shedding light on the conference, said the citizens have to cultivate the culture of asking questions on how the government is running the affairs of the state since tax payers money is expended during budget implementation.

According to him, the intention of the organisers is to open a dialogue channel between the people and government.

The Lagos State appropriation bill of N499 billion was signed into law on December 31 2012 by Governor Babatunde Fashola.

Representatives of the government are expected to explain grey areas, thereby promoting accountability.

LACSOP on the other hand, will help provide needed information to enable citizens better understand the government's intentions and ask pressing questions.

Felix Obanubi, state team leader for SAVI, said his organisation is concerned with giving voice to the people, through advocacy partners like LACSOP.