The Adamawa government with the support of United State Agency International Development (USAID), State2State activity, has developed the 2022 Citizens’ Accountability Report (CAR) for transparency and accountability in governance.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the report was finalised at the end of the three-day workshop with government officials and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Yola on Friday.
Suzanne Myada, the State2State Public Financial Management (PFM) specialist, explained that the CAR is an important document that allows citizens to easily ascertain how and where the government acquired and spent its resources and the criteria for allocation of these resources.
“It is a simplified version of the audited financial statements/reports that presents key information on budget outturns, revenue and expenditure outturns and audit findings.
“It also provides data and information on sectoral allocations, top value projects and citizen nominated projects.
“The CAR is a report to the people, presented in an accessible format using simple and clear language they can understand, supported with graphs, bar charts and other images,” she said.
Myada also urged the state officials and the CSOs to double their efforts on such report for sustainability after the exit of State2State activity from the state.
Ambrose Framer, Senior Accountant office of the Accountant-General Adamawa, told participants that the state appreciated the contribution of State2State for the support in ensuring transparency, accountability and effectiveness for the good of the citizens.
He said that the efforts led to the ranking of Adamawa third in the nation and first in the North-East for budget transparency. Framer described the report as excellent and a door for citizens to ask questions for clarity and observation for more development.
Charles Christopher, who spoke on behalf of the CSOs, also commended Adamawa Government and State2State, for their commitment in preparing the report for the citizens to understand government expenditures among other things. He said that they would do everything possible to ensure preparing annual CAR in the state.