Cross-section of Cross River State Planning Commission Directors and Officers engaged in Calabar to track implementation of the Cross River State Growth and Development Strategy (2018-2048
The Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) conducted a week-long visit – from February 21 to 25 – to Cross River, Akwa Ibom, and the Abia States to track the progress of the Cross River State Growth and Development Strategy, the Abia State Long-Term plan and to discuss Akwa Ibom State Government’s interest to develop a 30-year plan of its own.
Th visits were carried out by PIND’s Advocacy Manager, Chuks Ofulue, and its Advocacy Coordinator– Ebenezar Wikina, who used the opportunity to meet with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and advocacy groups including the Partners for Peace (P4P) Network concerned with issues around access to land, state government budgeting and open governance, multiple taxations, and the proposed Niger Delta Peace and Security Framework which will be implemented in collaboration with Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and BRACED Commission.
Cross River State
The team were in Calabar, Cross River state from February 21-22. They met with representatives of the Cross River State Planning Commission (CSPC) led by its Director of Administration, Mr. Joseph at the state secretariat complex. PIND also met with civil society partners at the Budget Transparency and Accountability Network (BTAN) led by its Cross River State Coordinator, Kingsley Eworo. Both sessions provided PIND an opportunity to learn more about the progress made on the implementation of the Cross River State Growth and Development Strategy (GDS) and its inclusion in the State annual budgets from 2019 to date.
(PIND Advocacy team at BTAN Office with Kingsley Etoro)
PIND has been made a member of the Cross River State Growth and Development plan review committee established by the government to provide oversight on the five-year review process of the GDS. Based on that, the CSPC provided PIND with soft copies of the Cross River State’s annual budgets from 2019 to 2022 to help in tracking budgetary provisions linked to the GDS in the past five years. The Commission also highlighted lines in the budget that connected to the GDS including N100 million for feasibility study, designand construction of cocoa processing plant in Ikom, N300 million for design and construction of rice mill processing plant in Ogoja, and N200,000 for the promotion of value-added services in the State.
Meanwhile, BTAN expressed an interest in partnering with PIND in tracking the budget lines that relate to the GDS and supporting activities around other PIND advocacy issues, including access to land, multiple taxation, and peace and security framework.
Akwa Ibom State
In Uyo, on February 23, met with the former lead consultant on the Abia State Long-Term Development Plan, Dr. EbebeUkpong, to better understand Akwa Ibom’s intentions to design its own Long-Term Development plan in the forthcoming administration. PIND’s team also engaged with Policy Alert, an activist organization led by Tijah Bolton Akpan, to secure a partnership towards the community engagement phase of the Niger Delta Peace and Security Framework project. Mr. Akpan is a member of the Akwa Ibom State chapter of PIND’s Partners for Peace (P4P) Network.
PIND’s Advocacy team met with the Secretary to the State Government and representative of the House of Assembly
Abia State
PIND visited Umuahia from February 24-25, 2022 where it held a high-level meeting with the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) in Abia State, Barr. Chris Ezem and the State legislator representing Umuahia South, Hon. Jeremiah Uzosike, who is also the Chairman of the House Committee on Donor Engagement. The purpose of the meeting was to follow up with the Executive and Legislature in Abia State as it relates to institutionalizing the Abia State Long-Term Development Plan (ABSLTDP), to ensure that successive governments can also plug into the roadmap for sustainable development in the State.
Also, PIND’s team held a work session with key MDAs including the Ministries of Education, Health, Agriculture, Transport, and Special projects to review items of their respective budgets that connect to the ABSLTDP. Following the formal launch of the plan in April 2021, this is was the first time the State is attempting to draw its annual budget from the plan, thus the session also provided PIND an opportunity to guide the MDAs on the process, plus discuss the rationale for key budget lines.
