By Ezekiel Dontinna
One remarkable step taken by the present administration in Plateau State towards a focused and transparent governance, was the engagement of citizens in every year’s budgetary discussion.
This, of course, has been the driver of Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau, and it has truly rekindled the hope and inclusiveness of citizens who, decades after decades of the State existence has never been this opened.
The only opportunity they had to recall without questioning the proposal, was the yearly radio broadcast or adverts on newspapers which comes either at the end or first month of the year for the privileged few.
Majority of citizens ignorantly received whatever projection of government with nostalgia, especially when respective budgetary allocations for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) were allocated huge amount.
There has never been a time when government deemed it necessary to step these projections down to their door steps, asking for their opinions or creating an opened space for them to give in their inputs about the budget.
This, to most citizens of Plateau State was a new dawn, because it was happening for the first time in the history of the State, a situation where a town hall meeting were organised across the three Senatorial zones.
However, on assumption of office, Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang, thought it wise to engaged stakeholders in fulfillment of his electioneering campaign promises for inclusiveness allowing citizens to decide on areas of dire needs that affects them.
He believed that, since the budget was for the people of Plateau State, there was a need for them to participate in the decision making by contributing and spelling out their areas of needs to enable government have a direction.
Equally, according to the programme, all the projects to be encapsulated in the proposals should align with the Plateau State Strategic Development Framework (PSSDF) 2023–2027, anchored on the three (3) Pillar Policies of: “Peace, Security and Good Governance; Sustainable Economic Rebirth and Physical Infrastructural Development respectively.
In continuation of the last budget proposal with the stakeholders engagement meeting, the Plateau State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Hon. Adams B. Lekshak, led the Management and Staff of the Ministry Shendam LGA, the Southern Zone headquarters for the commencement of 2026 budget preparation recently.
The team also held similar citizens town hall engagement meeting at NMS Hotel and Suites conference hall in Pankshin LGA for the Central Zone and subsequently, at the Nigerian Bible Translation Trust (NBTT) conference hall for the North Zone respectively.
Addressing the stakeholders, the Commissioner said, “our desire as a government is to impact positively in the lives of the citizens and equally transform the state to a new height of progress and development after a successful completion of the process.
“The rationale behind this engagement is to strengthen transparency, accountability, open governance and sustainability in the execution of government projects and programmes as well as to gain more confidence in the implementation of the budget.
“It is also important to inform the citizens that, in an effort to providing dividends of democracy at the grassroots, the government has introduced a new programme known as, “Ward Development Initiative Programme in the 2026 budget. The aim is to have the presence of government projects in all the 325 State Electoral Wards of Plateau State”, he highlighted.
Lekshak, therefore, charged all citizens to support the present administration in its deliberate effort in transforming the state across all sectors of the economy, hence the need for peace in the State.
On his part, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Budget, Hon. Obadiah Joshua Afwanks, said, “we have started seeing roads being constructed. We have already started seeing clean water.
We have also seen hospitals being renovated and even constructed.
“This is to say, indeed, the Time Is Now Administration is for the transformation on the plateau. There has never been a time like this. In the 2025 budget, the governor deemed it fit to say yes, the best way for him to pay the people of Plateau State is to pay them through development”, he noted.
Earlier, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mr. Yohanna Mangtu, commended participants for the show of interest in government programmes and encouraged them to support the government by ensuring that peace was achieved in the state.
There were presentation of the 2024 approved budget by the Ministry’s Director of Budget, Mr. Yusuf Bot, questions and answers sessions as well as good will messages from the traditional institution and CSOs respectively.
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