We are scaling up citizens’ engagement in 2026 budget discussions — Taraba Govt

By Femi Bolaji

Jalingo — The Taraba State government has announced plans to scale up citizen engagement to ensure residents’ inputs are adequately reflected in the 2026 budget.

The Permanent Secretary of Budget and Economic Planning, Danjuma Saigudu, disclosed this while declaring open the bilateral budget discussions with ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) of the state government.

Saigudu explained that, unlike previous exercises, the process would be decentralized with two separate meetings scheduled in each zone to collate citizens’ contributions.

“The government cannot spend without the budget because it is a plan for development across the state. For the 2026 budget, we intend to meet with the citizens, and this time around, we are decentralizing it. We will be having two discussions per zone to get input from citizens to ensure their needs are captured,” he said.

He added that the bilateral discussions with MDAs were crucial to scrutinize proposals and streamline them to align with the state’s developmental priorities. The forum, he noted, also allows the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and Economic Planning to ensure compliance with agreed budgetary frameworks.

Saigudu further urged MDAs to be represented at the sessions by their accounting officers, who have the expertise to defend their proposals.

Also speaking, the Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Dr. Sarah Adi, represented by the Permanent Secretary of Finance, Douglas Kisaba, tasked MDAs to present realistic and workable figures that would support a robust and achievable 2026 budget.

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