CSOs Confirm Existence, Completion of 108 Projects in Lere LGA Witnin One Year …..Commends Council Chair
By Alex Uangbaoje, Kaduna
A coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), have confirmed the existence and completion of 108 projects being executed by the Chairman of Lere Local Government Area in Kaduna State at the cost of over five hundred million naira (N500,000,000.00).
The CSOs, working in Lere LGA, made the confirmation after during a quarterly budget performance review town-hall meeting with the council and other stakeholders, at the weekend in Saminaka.
This was contained in a communique co-signed by Ladi Makawa, Coalition of Civil Society Lere local government area, Yusuf Ishaku Goje, Coalition of Associations for Leadership, Peace, Empowerment & Development (CALPED), Shuaibu A. Garu, Special Adviser, Administration, Chairman Lere local government and Hon. Ahmed Yahaya Lere Secretary, Lere local government council.
According to them, “with evidence on display, since the inception of the present council, there has never been the unprecedented execution of projects within a one year period, in this case about one hundred and eight (108) projects at a cost of over five hundred million naira (N500,000,000.00);
“Stakeholders confirmed the existence and completion of some of these projects in their various wards in line with the Community Development Charter (CDC) that informed the 2019 budget.
“As a result of the laudable evidence presented at the town-hall meeting, stakeholders gave a vote of confidence on the Executive Chairman, Lere local government council, Abubakar Buba for the giant strides so far in terms of delivering the dividends of democracy to the people;
“The civil society partners in Lere local government after receiving the list of 108 executed projects resolved to embark on an independent assessment and develop a score-card.
“Also, the civil society partners promised to continue to support and effectively hold the council accountable towards that the government work with and for the good people of Lere local government;
“Stakeholders called to order political entrepreneurs within and outside the local government to desist from blackmailing and distracting the Executive Chairman; because they no longer have the space to access and divert contracts to the detriment of the people;
“Stakeholders agreed to work closely with the council to ensure improvement in internal revenue generation, so that more projects can be delivered to the good people of Lere local government area.”
The meeting according to organisers, was aimed at deepen the understanding of stakeholders on local government reforms ongoing especially the local government development plan, community development plan and LFTAS. Publicly present the 2019 budget implementation report in line with the principles of OGP and LFTAS indicator on systematic tracking of budget implementation.
Generate feedback from stakeholders and agree on next steps to improve the budget implementation process in Lere local government area. Strengthen the culture of transparency, accountability, citizen’s engagement and quality of service delivery in Lere local government area, amongst others.
