Layi Olanrewaju, Ilorin
Kwara Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, yesterday, said citizens’ aspirations would always drive the budget process under his administration as part of a larger strategy to deepen participatory democracy and ensure good governance.
“Democracy is all about the people. It is meaningless when the people are shut out of the processes of governance, which in fact revolves around them and their wellbeing. This is the reason we have called this meeting to allow you to make inputs into the budget process,” AbdulRazaq said at a town hall meeting on citizens’ engagement in budget process in Ilorin.
He said the forum was organised to allow citizens suggest the things they wanted to be reflected in the budget.
It was the first of such meetings in the state, and AbdulRazaq said the platform would be widened next year to allow for wider participation of more persons. He also promised to ensure that people’s aspirations are reflected in the budget outcome and implementations.
The governor said the process would be fast-tracked to meet the January-December budget cycle, promising heavy investment in social infrastructure, agriculture and human capital development.