By joshua 
Preamble
A one-day policy dialogue meeting with Ministries, Departments, Agencies, and civil society organisations in Nasarawa State was organised on the 29th June 2021 in Nasarawa Luxury Hotel, Lafia.
The meeting which had in attendance member from the state House of Assembly, Ministry of youth and Sport Development, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Ministry of Finance, budget and planning and Civil Society Organisations. The meeting aimed to strengthen and promote public accountability and citizens participation in budget planning, implementation, and adequate investment on Youths and Women towards addressing drivers of violent extremism in Nasarawa state.
The meeting was organised by Global Peace development in partnership with ActionAid Nigeria and Beacon Youth Initiative, in pursuance of the System and Structure Strengthening Approach against Radicalisation to Violent Extremism (SARVE II) Project with funding from the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF).
After going through 2021 budget, the participants have the following observations and recommendations.
Observations
1 In effective youth inclusion in budget and procurement process.
2 reflection of youth empowerment initiatives that could address drivers of violent extremism.
3 Budget components are not detailed to specify location and quantity of items/equipment earmarked for procurement.
4 Recurrent expenditure is higher than the capital expenditure.
5 The budget mainly focuses on youths engagement in sports, it did not clearly provide youth inclusiveness in governance, socio-economic empowerment such as youth entrepreneurship, agriculture, creativity, Information Communication Technology and so on, that critically address drivers of violent extremism.
6 Inadequate citizen knowledge and awareness of budget process, tracking and monitoring for accountability.
Recommendations
1 Public procurement process should be all inclusive and participatory by all stakeholders (Youth and Women).
2 Budget should provide adequate information to be able to guide citizens for proper monitoring, tracking and oversight of projects.
3 Enhance community participation in budget preparation, enactment, implementation, and monitoring.
4 Conduct citizens need assessment in budget preparation to prioritize demands for better resource allocation.
5 Inclusion/adoption of budget reference codes to ease tracking and monitoring of projects.
6 Civil societies and media should facilitate and engage with government to address inequality as regards to women and youth inclusion in governance, support to people with disabilities and other marginalised groups.
7 Civil societies and media should effectively collaborate and work closely with government for budget spending and appropriation.
8 Conventional and social media outlets should be vigorously explored as platform for citizen mobilisations, government engagement on budget process and implementation.
9 Government should boost investment in agriculture and other sectors to adequately provide job opportunities, create value chain and increase income.
Signed
1. Hon Aliyu Dogara -House Committee Chairman on Budget Appropriation, Nasarawa state House of Assembly.
2. Hajiya Aliyu Hawwa Oga -Permanent Secretary Ministry of Women Affairs
3. Kasimu Sulaiman – Permanent Secretary Ministry Ministry of Youth and Social Development
4. Akolo Peters Ataka – Ministry of Finance, Budget and Planning
5. Coalition of Civil Society Organisations Nasarawa State
6. Fatima Sadiq, State Coordinator, Global Peace Development
7. Emmanuel Okolo, Executive Director, Beacon Youth Initiative