Nasarawa and Kogi State Government have been asked to do more in making budget allocation clear and for the budget to address preventing violent extremisim.
Dr. Tarfa Abraham, Research Fellow/Economist, National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, gave the advice while presenting a paper titled: Preventing Violent Extremism and Peace Building Through 2021 Budget Tracking and Monitoring in Kogi and Nasarawa States, urged the two states to allow for budget accountability, and employ the bottom top approach in budget preparation.
Dr Tarfa’s paper was presented at a Media Masterclass: Policy Engagement for Preventing Violent Extremism During and Post Covid19 in Kogi and Nasarawa State organized for Media Practitioners and Journalists holding at Akwanga, Nasarawa State with funding by Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF).
Dr. Tarfa lamented a situation where the budget items and allocation of the two states budget are not containing details enough for the public, stressed the need for citizens participation in budget preparation.
Dr. Tarfa tasked the media, Civil Society Organizations and the citizens to make tracking of the budget a matter of interest, towards Preventing Violent Extremism.
Dr. Tarfa equally cautioned the two states against paying too much attention to procurement of items like vehicles, cars in sectors that have capacity to generate employment, urged the media to be in the vanguard of tracking the budget in order to check and prevent violent extremisim.