By Uangbaoje Alex, Kaduna

Kaduna State has challenged budget officers in its 23 Local Government Areas to turn public budgets from mere financial documents into tools for delivering better services to citizens.

The call came on Wednesday in Zaria, at a three-day sensitisation and capacity-building workshop on Public Financial Management (PFM), planning, budgeting and social protection, supported by UNICEF.

Opening the workshop, Permanent Secretary, Kaduna State Planning and Budget Commission, Muktar Abdullahi, said stronger public financial management was essential to translating government policies and development commitments into realistic budgets and measurable results.

He urged participants to ensure that priorities such as education, healthcare, nutrition, WASH and social protection were properly captured in plans and budgets.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government Affairs, Mahmud Lawal, said the training was timely as Local Governments were being repositioned to improve financial management, budget credibility and the targeting of public resources.

Lawal said Local Governments were closest to citizens and therefore had a critical role in identifying and responding to the needs of vulnerable households, children, women and other disadvantaged groups.

He urged the Directors of Planning and Budget to use the ongoing 2027 budget preparation process to strengthen the integration of social protection into government plans and financing.

“Effective social protection requires not only good policies, but also credible and well-managed financing,” he said.

Chairman, Kaduna State Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Sani Rabiu Bako, said public financial management was not simply about producing budget documents but ensuring that public resources delivered measurable value to citizens.

He described budget credibility as the relationship between what government approves, what it actually spends and what it ultimately delivers.

Bako challenged budget officers to abandon unrealistic projections and embrace budgets that are realistic, transparent, evidence-based and aligned with available resources and measurable outcomes.

He said every naira wasted or poorly managed represented a lost opportunity to improve citizens’ lives, particularly through investments in healthcare, basic education, rural roads, water, sanitation and other essential services.

Representing the Chief of Field Office, UNICEF Kaduna, Social Policy Officer Wakidara Akila, urged participants to put children at the centre of public planning and budgeting.

Akila said budget officers must look beyond allocations to determine what specific projects are being funded and how those investments will affect children and vulnerable households.

She also stressed the need to properly integrate social protection into Local Government budgets, particularly as preparations for the 2027 budget get underway.

The training is designed to strengthen participants’ capacity in PFM, planning and budgeting; deepen understanding of social protection and Local Government financing responsibilities; improve application of the National Chart of Accounts (NCoA); and strengthen budget preparation, execution, monitoring and reporting.

It will also promote transparency, accountability, fiscal discipline, value for money and efficient use of public resources, while helping participants identify practical solutions to challenges affecting Local Government budget preparation and implementation.

The workshop brings together Directors of Planning and Budget from Kaduna State’s 23 Local Government Areas, government officials and development partners.