By Peter Duru, Makurdi

The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has commenced the training of budgeting personnel in the Benue State Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, to ensure result oriented and project centered budgeting in the state.

The programme is executed in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation, ILO, funded by the European Union, EU, and implemented under the Supporting Sustainable Social Protection Systems, SUSI, project.

Speaking at the meeting, with the theme “Introduction to Programme Based Budgeting for 2026 Budget in Benue State”, UNICEF Social Policy Specialist, Isaac Otabor said the intervention aimed to support Benue State achieve programme based budgeting.

He said “In this intervention we have four basic outputs, they are Medium Term Expenditure Framework, which is the basis for preparing the annual budget. What they are currently doing now is the Medium Term Set Up Strategy with focus on four sectors which are education, health, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH, and social protection.

“And the last output will be to support the state to come out with Budget Performance Indicator and Monitoring Mechanism.

“At the end of the training we are hoping that Benue State will be more focused when it comes to preparation of budget. It will not be incremental budgeting but it will be based on programmes and projects. Benue State will identify projects that will have maximum impact on the citizens, cost it and go for it.

“This project is implemented at the Federal Level and four states in Nigeria namely Benue, Abia, Sokoto and Oyo.”

The Director General of Benue State Budget and Economic Planning Commission, BSBEPC, Prof. Jerome Andohol lauded UNICEF for the intervention saying before the training budgeting personnel in the MDAs were having it difficult trying to cost and map out programmes “that are in tune with the 10 year development plan.

“So it is wonderful that UNICEF and its partners have done this for us because when I came as Director General it was one of the key things that I found challenging among our personnel.”

Prof. Andohol said with the training, budgeting personnel would be Knowledgeable in aggregating budgets with the development plan of the government and be able to properly spread out allocations to projects to achieve implementing target.

The lead consultant of the programme, Mr. David Adeosun explained that the intervention involved series of activities “starting with putting together the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, and fiscal strategy paper and also moving from there to Medium Term Sector Strategy, this is a three-year plan for the government.

“This has tremendous benefit for the state because first it will ensure that you have an instrument which is the annual budget to implement the development plan you have put in place unlike in some other states where you have the development plan separately and have the annual budget that is not speaking to it.

“This programme based budgeting will enable the government implement priority projects that have high level multiplier effects in the state that would also address the concerns of the vulnerable who usually do not have voices.”

A participant and Head of Department, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Benue State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, BERWASSA, Joshua Gwaza who lauded UNICEF for the training said “before now we could just prepare budget anyhow, but going forward our budget preparation would be more directed and result oriented compared to what we were doing before.”