The administration of Emeka Ihedioha in Imo State has commenced an open budget system as part of measures to boost transparency in governance.
This was disclosed yesterday, by the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mr. Reginald Ihebuzor.
He explained the need for Imo citizens to be part of the state’s budget system, adding that it makes also for transparency and accountability, which is a cardinal policy of the administration.
Mr. Ihebuzor revealed that for the past years of the life of the former Governor Rochas Okorocha’s administration, people were in the dark about the budget system and the results of the audits of the state government accounts.
He went further to say that “unlike the administration of Rochas Okorocha, the administration of Emeka Ihedioha has resolved to always maintain the policy of transparency and accountability.”
He revealed that from last Friday, his office has engaged the Office of the Auditor-General, to look at accounts between 2013 and 2018.
The commissioner directed the budget office of his ministry to go ahead and make public their accounts of these past years so that Imo citizens, will know what was being budgeted for, and how their funds have been spent.
Continuing the Commissioner noted that the reason Okorocha’s administration did not release audited accounts for the past years was because he (Okorocha) had operated a lot of fiscal issues under secrecy for the purpose of misappropriating the state fund.”