USAID State2State Supports Ebonyi To Ensure Revenue Management, Reviews Financial Laws & Instructions

From Mba Nnenna- Abakaliki

In a bid to ensure proper management and control of Ebonyi state finance/revenue, the
USAID State Accountability, Transparency, and Effectiveness (State2State) Activity in collaboration with Ebonyi State Government has commenced a 5- day activity to review Ebonyi Financial Instructions and Finance Law, bringing it to best practice for use in the state.

The State2State Team Lead Dr. Sam Onyia while welcoming participants at the office secretariat, Abakaliki, explained that the activity is aimed at reviewing Ebonyi state Financial Instructions and Law, last revised in 2020.

The revised document which contains terms/languages no longer in use, will be modified to current trends, using a dummy provided by a Consultant, Prof. Okolie as a guide in the review by participants/staffs of various Ministries, Department and Agencies, MDAs, ranging from; Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Ministry of Justice, Ebonyi state Internal Revenue, Ebonyi state House of Assembly EBSHA, Ministry of Budget, Planning, Research & Monitoring among others.

In an opening remark the Ebonyi state Accountant General, Mr Emeka Nwankwo while commending the State2State for organizing the activity, charged the participants to make substantive contributions to the development of the financial documents.

Speaking, Prof. Paschal Okolie, a Financial law & Instructions Consultant for USAID/State2State in Ebonyi and Akwa- Ibom said “State2State provides support to selected States on Public Financial Management to ensure that PFM laws especially Financial Instructions and Finance Laws meet international standards for use in their States. This is achieved through update/review of these documents. After the reviews, they will pass several levels to get a clean copy that will be brought back for validation by the relevant State Officials”, he added.

Meanwhile, the State Auditor General, Elder Dr. Uduma Samuel Aka(aka USA) assured that once the bill for the document is passed into law, Ebonyi state finance will be managed and controlled perfectly.