The Exceptional Leadership and Integrity Promotion Initiative (ELIP-Initiative), a non-governmental organisation, has generated about 1,500 demands from citizens for consideration in the Jigawa State Government’s 2027 budget.
The Executive Director of ELIP-Initiative, Comrade Isah Mustapha, disclosed this during citizens’ budget town hall meetings organised across the three senatorial districts in collaboration with the Jigawa State Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
Mustapha said the annual consultation was designed to allow citizens and other stakeholders to contribute directly to the formulation of the state’s budget.
He said representatives from all the 287 political wards participated in the exercise, with each ward expected to identify three priority projects or interventions for consideration in the 2027 budget.
According to him, between 1,200 and 1,500 inputs were generated from the consultations, with participants sensitised on the need to distinguish between genuine community needs and wants and focus on interventions that would have direct impact on the people.
He said the consultations focused on human capital development, health, education, empowerment, environment, water and sanitation, stressing that government must prioritise projects based on available resources.
Mustapha warned that an unrealistic budget could frustrate development efforts and undermine citizens’ confidence in government, particularly where projects captured in the budget were not implemented because revenue projections were overstated.
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“When citizens see projects in the budget that are not implemented, they may assume that the money has been siphoned. This is one of the conversations we are having,” he said.
He said projections under the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) indicated about N570 billion, while expected revenue was approximately N560 billion, stressing that the figures called for caution in determining the size of the 2027 budget.
The executive director said consultations were ongoing with the Planning Board and State Executive Council to ensure that the 2027 budget reflected the state’s financial capacity.
He added that the 2027–2029 Medium-Term Expenditure Plan was already available, urging the government to concentrate scarce resources on projects with the greatest impact instead of spreading funds thinly.
“We need strategic prioritisation of our spending,” Mustapha said.
He explained that the inputs generated from the town hall meetings would be analysed according to ministries, departments and agencies, as well as constituencies, before being forwarded for consideration in the budget process.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Hon. Babandi Umar Gantsa, represented by the Director of Budget, Malam Auwalu Muhammad, said citizens’ participation remained an important component of the state’s budget process.
Muhammad said the engagement was anchored on the constitutional responsibility of government to promote the security and welfare of the people while harnessing available resources for their prosperity and wellbeing.
The meeting was also used to present the 2025 budget performance, which showed that Jigawa spent N491.619 billion out of the N756.3 billion approved expenditure, representing 65 per cent implementation.
The presentation showed that actual revenue stood at N550.656 billion against the projected N756.3 billion, representing 73 per cent performance.
Federal Account Allocation contributed N254.595 billion against N325.7 billion projected, while internally generated revenue stood at N89.608 billion against the N141.333 billion target.
Aids and grants recorded 100 per cent performance, with N47.977 billion realised, while no revenue was obtained from the N79.25 billion projected from loans.
Other revenue sources generated N82.691 billion against N62.039 billion projected, representing 133 per cent performance.
On expenditure, personnel costs recorded 97 per cent implementation, with N88.825 billion spent out of N91.257 billion budgeted. Overhead expenditure stood at 79 per cent, with N52.37 billion spent out of N66.137 billion, while debt servicing recorded 96 per cent implementation.
Capital expenditure recorded 58 per cent implementation, with N344.351 billion spent out of N588.84 billion budgeted.
Infrastructure received N156.049 billion, of which N119.192 billion was spent, while education recorded 59 per cent implementation, with N62.293 billion spent out of N105.412 billion budgeted.
The health sector achieved 72 per cent implementation, with N30.881 billion spent out of N43.613 billion allocated.
Agriculture received N26.346 billion out of N60.057 billion budgeted, while N7.515 billion was spent on water projects from the N13.245 billion allocation.
Stakeholders at the meetings urged Governor Umar Namadi to adopt realistic revenue projections and strategic spending in the 2027 budget to prevent project abandonment and loss of public confidence.
The participants also kicked against the proposed N1 trillion budget size for the state, arguing that the 2027 budget should be anchored on Jigawa’s actual revenue-generating capacity and prevailing financial realities.
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