FRC SENSITIZES YOUTH CORPS MEMBERS ON FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

L-R: Ogechi Ekwueme, a serving Corps Member in FRC, Mr. Bede Anyanwu, Head, Strategic Communications Directorate, FRC, Mrs. Abdulwahab, the Camp Director, NYSC Orientation Camp, Abuja, Dr. Chris Uwadoka, Special Assistant to the Chairman, FRC during the ongoing sensitization of Corps Members on issues of Fiscal Governance and Fiscal Responsibility at NYSC Orientation Camp, Abuja

Oru Leonard

The Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), has begun its sensitization drive to members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), on issues around fiscal governance and fiscal responsibility in the management of the nation’s resources.

The inaugural events took place simultaneously at the NYSC Orientation Camp, Kubwa Abuja, and the Keffi Orientation Camp, Nasarawa State on the sensitization of Corps Members on issues of Fiscal Governance .

It is a pilot programme that is billed to become a nationwide event aimed to get Nigerian youths and future leaders to understand the concept of fiscal responsibility and fiscal governance, including acquainting them with the objectives of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), 2007, and the benefits of its implementation in the management of the nation’s resources.

During the pilot events in Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja and Nasarawa State, officials of the FRC led by Dr. Chris Uwadoka, the Special Assistant to the Chairman, Fiscal Responsibility Commiossion introduced the youth corps members to the tenets of fiscal responsibility, prudence in public finance management, the budgetary process and economic management generally.

Speaking to the corps members, Dr. Uwadoka of the FRC said they have come the Orientation Camps to encourage the Corp members with accounts of what the country is doing right and where they could make it better.
According to him, hey have come to ask the Corps to take advantage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007 and to ask legitimate questions where and when necessary as contained in section 51 of Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007.
Dr. Uwadoka said, the Commission will continue to awaken the citizens consciousness of the need for a transparent and accountable public expenditure management by catching them young. The NYSC programme which ultimately produce the bulk of the public servants in our country is obviously a cherished target. The struggle to up the ante to achieve our mandates as a Commission is on. All hands must be on deck.

The NYSC Camp Directors for the Abuja and Keffi Orientation Camp, Mrs. Olayinka Abdulwahab and Mrs. Joy Haruna in their remarks, expressed their happiness for the wonderful sensitization exercise for Corps Member to be aware of Fiscal Responsibility in their daily dealings.

These sensitization programmes come on the heels of the collaborative pact reached with the management of the NYSC during a courtesy visit by the Chairman of FRC, Barr. Victor Muruako, to the Director-General of NYSC, Brigadier-General Shuaibu Ibrahim, recently. The collaboration between the Commission and NYSC is to provide a platform for developing future leaders on the importance of fiscal responsibility and prudent management of the nation’s resources.

According to the Chairman of the Commission, Barr. Victor Muruako, “we will continue to awaken the citizen’s consciousness of the need for a transparent and accountable public expenditure management by catching them young. The NYSC program which ultimately produces the bulk of the public servants in our country is a cherished target”.

The events are part of another novel step and efforts by the management of the FRC to ensure that the FRA, 2007 is wholly implemented and popularized in the day-to-day delivery of public service and guarantee value for money for the benefit of citizens. There are also plans by the FRC to take the sensitization programmes to institutions of higher learning in a bid to push for the adoption of fiscal responsibility in the school curriculum.

Recall that the Fiscal Responsibility Act came into existence in 2007. It is an Act to provide for prudent management of the nation’s resources, ensure long-term macro-economic stability of the national economy, secure greater accountability and transparency in fiscal operations within a medium-term fiscal policy framework, and the establishment of the fiscal responsibility Commission to ensure the promotion and enforcement of the nation’s economic objectives; and for related matters.

(FRC Media)