The Nigeria Budget Monitoring Project (NBMP) is a financial journalism training programme supported by DFID and the European Commission which aimed to empower ordinary Nigerians to influence budget formulation and monitor public spending at federal, state and local government levels by equipping the Nigerian media to provide its audiences with better information on public finances. The Project was managed by the BBC World Service Trust an International Charity of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) committed to improving the quality of people’s lives in developing countries through the innovative use of the media. 

 

This project aimed to promote transparency and participation in budget processes, ultimately contributing to improved governance, domestic accountability and, in the long-term, changes to budget processes and policies.

 

NBMP had two interlinked strands: training of journalists and political cartoonists delivered by the BBC World Service Trust, and a series of grassroots advocacy activities managed by our partner organisation, Nigerian NGO Integrity. These were designed to support citizens and communities in using the media’s improved budget analysis to mobilise public opinion around specific areas of concern – corruption, embezzlement, inefficiency or inappropriate spending.

 

Integrity Organisation built a network of civil society organisations dubbed Integrity Clubs in the six key EC focal states in which the journalism training is delivered: Yobe, Jigawa, Kano, Anambra, Osun and Cross Rivers. Each club selected a local issue on which it focused with the support of Budget Monitoring journalists. These include a campaign in Osun to lobby for the completion of a road building project which had already swallowed up significant funds, the monitoring of ADB and WB-funded water reform projects in Cross River, and the campaign for the provision of budgetary allocation by the Anambra State Government to provide portable water to the Achina Community.

In Kano State, the Integrity Club focused on tracking the Universal Basic Education spending.    

 

 

Working with 91 media organisations in the six focal states, face to face financial journalism training took place three times in eight locations with 230 reporters, 65 editors, 13 cartoonists and 13 graphic artists trained. The trainees took part in the weekly story and cartoon competitions. The winning submissions were uploaded on the project website which has served as an information resource for journalists and civil society organisations working to promote transparency.  Students worked with one BBC international journalist and one Nigerian journalist to learn how to interpret and scrutinise public expenditure more effectively, incorporate a range of conflicting sources in their reporting, make financial reporting more engaging for the wider population and reflect on the impact of budget policies on different groups in the society.

 

                                           

Between courses, students progressed through an internet-based training course called I-Learn, completing specialist modules such as ‘Reporting Numbers and Statistics’ and ‘How Budgets Are Made in Nigeria’. Trainees completed at least one round of mentoring, where a BBC trainer spends a week at the reporter’s workplace supervising the production of budget analysis stories in the six focal states. In this way, the objectives of the course extended beyond the trainees on the course and into the media house in which they work. Over 200 budget analysis stories were produced, broadcast or published.

 

Journalists improved their skills, but they also developed an understanding of the role they can play in supporting transparency and accountability:  ‘In the past, we don’t dig into relevant areas. We only tell the public what the government wants us to tell them but now that we know the technique…we tell them exactly what we have seen, the simple truth, and it will ginger the government into action’ (Editor, public radio, Kano). Another trainee newspaper journalist from Dutse says, ‘Before, even if I noted or reported figures, I just reported the amount. But now, I am concerned about how the money is spent.

 

 

Civil Society activities kicked off in 2006 with Symposia in each State which brought together between 90 and 140 representatives of Government, Civil Society Organisations and the media to analyse the way in which funds allocated to a particular area were actually spent and demonstrate how this information was obtained. In one instance, the Symposia facilitators pointed out to the amazement of all concerned that virtually all the State’s housing budget had been spent on building or extending residences for three senior officials of the State Government. In this case, it became clear that many senior Civil Servants, including Departmental Directors, did not know how the budget process worked and what the budget allocations were in their own State Government.

 

Five Integrity clubs were formed out of the six focal states with each mobilizing public opinion around specific areas of concern such as corruption, inefficiency and inappropriate spending. In Anambra State for example Integrity Club’s advocacy saw to the allocation of fifty million naira in the 2008 budget to the Achina water project. Such success stories were replicated in at least four other states.

 

The Nigeria Budget Monitoring Project wound up in September 30, 2008 with series of symposia with the theme “Holding Government Accountable: The Role of the Media and the Civil Society”. It was one of the ways to bring government, the civil society and the media to talk about issues around good governance, service delivery by government, expectations by the citizenry and accountability.

The last activity of the project was the public presentation of its impact, achievements and lessons learnt. 

It is believed that the skill, enthusiasm and impact of the project on our trainees and members of the Integrity club will continue to drive the momentum of keeping the issues of public Finance and budget monitoring in the front burner of public discourse, and give the ordinary Nigerian a strong voice in determining how government spends their money.

 

 

KINGSLEY URANTA

Head of Project

Nigeria Budget Monitoring Project

BBC World Service Trust