By Chioma Onuegbu

Uyo—A coalition of civil society groups, Open Budget Platform, OBP, has commended the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly for the recent passage of the state’s Fiscal Responsibility Bill into law.

House of Representatives

Representatives of the group in their separate remarks yesterday, during a courtesy call on the lead sponsor of the Bill and Leader of the House, Mr. Udo Akpan, commended the current Assembly for seeing the importance of passing the bill.

Head of Programmes of Policy Alert, Mr. Tijah Bolton-Akpan, said: “We are indeed excited that our advocacy effort is yielding results. The passage of the bill into law demonstrates that the Sixth Assembly is proactive and remains commitment to transparency and accountability.”

Acting Executive Director of Social Action, Ken Henshaw, who pointed out that Akwa Ibom State was the only state in the South-South region without a Fiscal Responsibility Law, noted that “the passage of this bill is an important step towards putting rules in place to guide public expenditure and promote long-term fiscal sustainability.”