A non-governmental organisation, Public and Private Development Centre, has charged stakeholders, particularly, taxpayers to ensure effective monitoring of public funds at Local government and State .
The PPDC Senior Programme Advisor, Ife Olatunji-David gave the charge at the end of a 5-day Sub-national Public Procurement BootCamp held in Ado-Ekiti .The programme was supported by the MacArthur Foundation.
Olatunji-David said, “Yes we have scarce resources and things are not working as we use to have them before, yet we need to manage our small resources so that we can get maximum impact for the small money. So we need to cut down on loss and the only way to do that is to monitor and evaluate these projects properly.
“Because, if we are giving money and we are not monitoring and evaluating what the money is going for , there will be a lot of loss. So there is the need curb on loss and waste. Let us monitor , whether we want to do new projects, the project we are already doing should be monitored properly and ensure that people are compliant and carryout projects to specification. Let’s ensure that corruption is curbed so that public funds will not be wasted by financing corruption.
“When we are maximizing public funds and the little funds we have, it will go a long way and the citizens will be happy when they see the government doing all these.”
On the take-home from the engagement by the participants, she said it is majorly to collaborate for better service delivery.
“Most times, as citizens, we just always leave the bulk of responsibility for the government but it should be the other way round, because the government are human beings too, because the need the citizens to be able to tell them where things are going well or not going well and those things they can do better.
“The participants have been taught about following proper processes, how to monitor and track projects using data and write request letters. There is a law in Ekiti state called Freedom of Information law which mandated the government to give you information requested about any project within seven days.”
While commending the Ekiti state government for enacting Freedom of Information law in the state, she however said, “We need to go a step further by responding to citizens’ requests and ensure what is in the law and drafted are followed so that everyone will be happy with the government.”
Speaking on the training, a participants, Ibitoye Helen Oluwatoyin of the Disabilities Not A Barrier Initiative commended the organizers of the BootCamp saying the training has opened our eyes to so many new things especially in the area of gender inclusion in the procurement processes.
Ibitoye who is also the Ekiti state coordinator of Advocacy For Women With Disabilities Initiative said it has actually ensure the inclusion of everyone, the men, women and even persons with disabilities in the process.
“Now know that the issue of projects monitoring is not just the responsibility of certain category of people but everyone can can be involved and report it by following the methods taught here.”
She urged government at all levels to always remember and involved the persons living with disabilities in the scheme of things as members of the society.