Local Governments Level Engagements by NDEBUMOG across the Region
Due to the need to take fiscal knowledge, good governance capacity and Basic Economic Literacy to the grassroots, NDEBUMOG, working with Oxfam, expanded DELT4SLOG III, to deepened capacity of the grassroots communities’ on Basic Economic Literacy. As intended and proposed, NDEBUMOG conducted these 16 Basic Economic Literacy (Inclusive Budget) Town Hall Meetings across Four States in the Oil Producing Region of Nigeria. These locations were: Oron, Eket, Ikot Ekpene, Uyo, Warri, Abraka, Agbor, Asaba, Omoku, Bori, Isiokpo and Port Harcourt. Others were: Kaiama, Amassoma, Elebele and Yenagoa. A total of 663 beneficiaries attended the Town Hall Meetings. These were made up in disaggregation of men and women thus: 413 men and 250 females, totalling 663.
The table below provides locational breakdown of participants’ disaggregation in male and female:
| S/NO | Location | Total Participants | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Bori |
44 |
29 |
15 |
|
2 |
Omoku |
41 |
29 |
12 |
|
3 |
Yenagoa |
32 |
26 |
6 |
|
4 |
Elebele |
43 |
32 |
11 |
|
5 |
Isiokpo |
45 |
24 |
21 |
|
6 |
Asaba |
36 |
25 |
11 |
|
7 |
Agbor |
40 |
26 |
14 |
|
8 |
Kaiama |
31 |
23 |
8 |
|
9 |
Warri |
43 |
29 |
14 |
|
10 |
Oron |
52 |
20 |
32 |
|
11 |
Eket |
46 |
23 |
23 |
|
12 |
Ikot Ekpene |
48 |
25 |
23 |
|
13 |
Amassoma |
41 |
28 |
13 |
|
14 |
Uyo |
47 |
20 |
27 |
|
15 |
Port Harcourt |
43 |
31 |
12 |
|
16 |
Abraka |
31 |
23 |
8 |
|
|
Total |
663 |
413 |
250 |
Further to our commitment to influence pro-poor governance in Cross River, we also undertook a Capacity Enhancement Training for Key Officers (3 each from an LGA) across the 18 LGAs of the State on Procurement Due Process. This was in November, 2006, in collaboration with the Budget Monitoring & Price Intelligence Unit (BMPIU) now the BPP, Cross River State Planning Commission and the Local Government Service Commission in Cross River State, with funding support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID-REFORMS) Project. It was the first of its kind in Cross River State from any Civil Society Organization in the Niger Delta. From the period enumerated above till now, we have deepened our partnership on fiscal issues with the Cross River State Government. Up till 2014, the Office of the Special Assistant to the Governor of Cross River State on Budget Monitoring confer with NDEBUMOG regularly on some fiscal issues affecting Cross River State within the equilibrium of the National Budget, including invitation(s) to Budget Consultative Processes in Cross River State, amongst others.
In 2007, the British High Commission in collaboration with Oxfam GB and the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP) conducted a training programme on “Improved Budget Management Systems for Effective Local Government Administration” for Legislative Councillors in Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta State. NDEBUMOG was the Technical Partner in the project and the impact from the project generated high demand for accountability within the LGAs of Rivers and Delta State. The expository led to a near impeachable scenario for one of the Council Chairmen due to inconsistency in disclosure of allocations from Abuja to the Councillors, which NDEBUMOG presented verbatim during the training sessions. We also lend critical capacity to the DfID’s Strengthening Accountability in the Niger Delta (STAND) project, which was earlier handled by IDASA and later by Stakeholders Democracy Network (SDN). This we did through training of community partners in STAND’s communities across the Niger Delta.
