by The Cross River State Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Michael Odere has said that Cross River State is the most fiscally responsible state in Nigeria. He also revealed that for the past 15 years, there has been no borrowing by the state without the approval of the Debt Management Office, DMO.
The commissioner made this known during an interactive session on fiscal responsibility in Cross River State organised by Order Paper on the 29th of February, 2024 in Calabar.
He said, “Cross River State is one of the most Fiscal responsible states in the country. Before the federal government make any borrowing, the national assembly must give their approval. At the state, there can be no borrowing by the state, for the state without the approval of the Debth Management office. for the past 15 years, there has been no borrowing by the state without the approval of the Debt Management Office, DMO.”
Michael Odere further stated that Civil Societies and media organisations are not anti-government but enablers and helpers who view government policies from different perspectives. They see blind spots and call government attention to them.
“The Civil Society Organisation is not an anti-government society, they are enablers, helpers and partners and collaborators that can help you do things better, looking at what you are doing from a different perspective.” He said.
“They are to see the blind spots and call the government to it” He added.
Also speaking, the Executive Director, OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative, Oke Epia revealed that a government’s public debt is considered sustainable if the government can meet all its current and future payment obligations without exceptional financial assistance or going into depth to pay for it.”
He also admonished media personnel and CSOs to get vested with the Fiscal laws so that they can adequately confront and ask the state actors relevant questions.
Participants also stated that there is no means of controlling borrowing or regulating how the federal and state government borrows. adding that data cannot be easily accessed in the state.
They further suggested that the fiscal law be made formidable and not just a form of a paper tiger which has no impact.
The interaction with the media and civil society organisations was to gain better insight into the State’s culture on fiscal responsibility and build synergies among key sector stakeholders to advance the advocacy for fiscal reforms in the state and at the national level. and also to share views on how to promote fiscal prudence in the citizens’ interest in line with His Excellency Governor Bassey Otu’s ‘People’s First’ agenda-driven mandate.”
The interaction came under the auspices of the Growth Initiative for Fiscal Transparency (GIFT). The GIFT project is being implemented by OrderPaper alongside a cluster of civil society organisations – Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA), Hipcity Innovation Centre, CLICE Foundation and AdvoKC – with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE) Project by Palladium International. The Project is a series of activities geared towards advocating for reforms in the Public Finance Management (PFM) space, to instil prudence, transparency and accountability in government business for improved service delivery.
