The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has criticized the Imo State Government for its misguided allocation of funds in the 2023 budget.
According to reports, a vast sum of N3,105,500,000 was earmarked for maintaining buildings and assets in the government house – more than the combined allocations for key sectors such as education, health, works and agriculture.
The group in a statement released on Friday by its National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko condemned this disparity.
The right group expressed concern about the government’s commitment to citizens’ well-being and development while highlighting that there is a significant contrast between budgetary allocations towards critical sectors like education and health compared to those towards maintaining capital assets at the government house.
For instance, while N3,105,5000 was allocated for maintenance purposes at the governor’s office; only N1,404173708 was set aside for overhead expenditure at Ministry of Education. This allocation imbalance indicates misplaced priorities since education plays an essential role in societal advancement.
The sum of N119200000,N2518417500, and N93344010 were allocated respectively to ministries responsible for agriculture ,health and works. These allocations could not address pressing needs or challenges faced by these sectors particularly when considering their importance in achieving progress and sustainable development for the state.
The group lamented that the budget breakdown revealed that N1575500000 was earmarked for maintaining office furniture and equipment while a N1530000000 allocation was allocated to maintain vehicles and capitals assets under the Office of the Governor. These figures are disproportionately high when set against education health works and agriculture funds allocation. Also, in the year 2022, similar patterns were observed in Imo state government expenditure where government maintained its assets equipment, furniture, and vehicles at the cost of spending on sectors like education (98285000), health (1291538120), works (131634010) and agriculture(N10316000).
HURIWA also noted with concern that N1200000000 will be spent on “governor’s running cost” while another N700 million will go into vehicle maintenance costs under his office which raises questions about how much priority is given to people’s welfare beyond personal interests.
The right group urged transparency and accountability from state officials citing it as necessary steps towards prioritizing resources towards services directly impacting citizens’ lives such as rural development, economic empowerment through Agriculture as well as education and healthcare.
HURIWA called on the government to reconsider its budgetary allocations with a priority placed on sectors that directly impact the lives of citizens.
