In ensuring that open budget becomes a reality in Imo State, the Citizens Center for Integrated Development and Social Rights, CCIDESOR has moved to collect over 1000 signature petitions from citizens of the state.
Speaking to newsmen in Owerri during its planning meeting, the Executive Director of CCIDESOR, Obidi Mgbemena posited that the essence of the signature will be to create awareness on the need for citizens to continue to engage their elected representatives so that the budget can be in the public domain.
Mgbemena hinted that this project is in line with the USAID sponsored SACE project which seeks to ensure the executive, legislature and all stakeholders are engaged towards ensuring that there is accountability, transparency and accessibility of the budget process, adding that once the citizens begin to make input into the budget process, the citizens will be in a better position to know what the government spends and on what it is spent on.
He used the opportunity to call on the citizens to avail themselves and make their voices heard through a democratic process by signing the petition paper which aims to develop the state, stressing that development has no political party nor religious tune but that once the state is developed, everybody benefits from it. He hinted that the political capital goes to the government once the citizens are carried along in the budget process from point of call circular to implementation so that the community members can prioritize their needs.
The Executive Director said that the issue of inclusive governance where government works with the civil societies can no longer be confrontational especially that the two need to work together to take the state to greater height.
