From Sola Ojo, Kaduna

The Kaduna State Government through its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) had published a total of 723 projects valued at N63 billion between 2016-2020, a performance analysis of the State’s open procurement portal by FollowTaxes has revealed.

Kaduna State Facilities Management Agency (KADSFAMA) came first with 145 projects to its credit while Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASA) came last with only one project published in four years.

Though the total number of published projects is low considering the volume of projects and budget performances in four years, the amount of projects by Kaduna State is higher than what is obtainable in the remaining 35 States and FCT in this category.

“A total of 723 projects amounting to N63.63bn was published by different Kaduna State MDAs between 2016 and 2020.

“Kaduna State Facilities Management Agency (KADSFAMA) came first with 145 projects while RUWASA is the lowest-performing agency with only one project published within the years in review.

“In 2018, only N6 billion worth of projects were published as against N62.6 Bn based on budget performance for that year while N24bn worth of projects published as against 79 billion in 2019. In 2020, a project worth N25.9 million as against N118.7bn actual for 2020. Only Barau Dikko published an item in 2020″, FollowTaxes analysis revealed.

Kaduna State as a sub-subscriber of a global accountability platform called Open Government Partnership (OGP), has a mandate to publish its basic procurements information via Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) template to make them accessible by citizens within or outside the state.

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Created to support organisations to increase contracting transparency and allow deeper analysis of contracting data by a wide range of users, OCDS enables disclosure of data and documents at all stages of the contracting process by defining a common data model.

Unveiling its organisation’s first performance index of the Kaduna Open Contracting Portal and Citizens Feedback Apps called ” Eyes and Ears” and Budeshi in Kawo, Kaduna, Lead, FollwTaxes, Dr Saied Tafida said, it is the responsibility of citizens to trace and know where the monies released by Kaduna government are since it has made it public.

Director, Monitoring and Evaluation, Planning and Budget Commission, Kaduna State, Jummai Bako, said, “we are looking for more citizens’ participation and engagement to ensure quality projects are delivered in Kaduna State.

“We have been receiving a lot of complaints from the citizens ranging from the feedback apps to projects. But, we have been carrying out awareness on the radio, flyers and town hall meetings to inform our citizens on approved projects and how they can take part.

“I want to encourage civil society which represents citizens to do more. If you want to have value for your money, if you want to have quality services and products, you have to develop an interest in monitoring public project around you”, she said.

A community-based monitor, Abubakar Yusha’u noted that ” it has been easy for citizens to search and locate projects in their areas using available apps and portal. For example, you can search for projects close to you through apps like “Eyes and Ears” or Budeshi and extend the search to the KADPPA portal from where you will move to the location of the project for monitoring and reporting.

“However, there is the need to improve on these apps and portal and at the same time, we the citizens need to show more interest in knowing how our monies are being spent.

“Gone are the days when we don’t have access to budget and its implementation. Time has come for us to be active citizens so those in government can be on their toes to deliver good governance to us”, he added.