The executive chairman of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), Victor Muruako, has reiterated the commission’s commitment to promoting transparency and accountability.

Mr Muruako made this known during the commission’s awareness and sensitisation programme on transparency and accountability for subnationals in North Central in Abuja on Thursday.

The theme of the event was “The Impact of Transparency and Accountability on Subnational Development in North Central Nigeria.”

Mr Muruako emphasised the importance of collaboration between federal and state governments in driving fiscal discipline and accountability.

According to him, the imperative of transparency and accountability involves the open and accessible dissemination of information to the public.

He said that it allowed citizens to monitor government activities, hold public officials accountable, and participate meaningfully in decision-making processes.

He described accountability as the obligation of public officials to answer for their actions and decisions, which ensures that public resources are used responsibly and ethically.

“By promoting transparency and accountability, we can achieve improved public service delivery, enhanced economic growth, reduced corruption, and increased public trust.

“The subnational governments are very important in Nigeria’s fiscal responsibility architecture because they are closer to the people and have a better understanding of local needs and priorities.

“They receive roughly half of the federation’s shareable revenue, while they enjoy the full discretion to appropriate and spend 100 per cent of this statutory allocation as well as their own internally generated revenue as they please,” he said.

Mr Muruako said that states and local government councils within the Nigerian federation enjoyed the constitutional freedom to make their own fiscal decisions.

“Such decisions may unduly burden general macroeconomic indicators such as economic growth, per capita income, interest rates, exchange rates, balance of payments, inflation rate, productivity, unemployment rate, among others.

“In a sense, being a subnational in Nigeria’s fiscal federalism is akin to enjoying the perks of being a prince without caring about the responsibilities of the larger kingdom.

“It is doubtful if such a system is sustainable. At the very least, there is a strong need for some form of fiscal cohesion and intergovernmental consistency in fiscal management,” he said.

He, however, said that subnational governments also faced significant challenges in fiscal management such as limited resources, capacity constraints, and political pressures.

He said that civil society organisations (CSOs) played a key role in ensuring fiscal responsibility at both the national and subnational levels.

“We believe that by strengthening these elements at the subnational level, we can significantly improve the quality of public service delivery and the overall well-being of our citizens.

“We are equally committed to continuing to provide technical assistance, capacity building, and oversight to ensure that public funds are used responsibly and efficiently,” the chairman said.

Mr Muruako said that the retreat, targeted at the North Central, was part of a nationwide series of sensitisation programmes initiated by the commission.

He said that a similar event had earlier been successfully held in the North-East, South-West, South-South, and South-East geopolitical zones.

The chairman said that, through this series of sensitisation programmes, the commission aimed to empower subnational governments to further improve in some areas.

According to him, it will strengthen their financial management systems and promote public disclosure by publishing annual financial reports, budgets, and other relevant information in a timely and accessible manner.

“It will encourage civil society engagement with subnational governments in a manner that empowers the CSOs to monitor government activities and hold public officials accountable,” he said.

The FRC plays a critical role in promoting fiscal discipline, transparency, and accountability in public finance management. 

(NAN)