The Hipcity Innovation Centre (HIC) has urged the government of Nigeria to adopt a co-productive approach for budgeting and planning in rural areas.

The non-governmental organisation (NGO) also called for grassroots inclusion in budget preparation and implementation.

Speaking at the premiere of a documentary, Echoes of the People, which was produced by the NGO, the Executive Director of HIC, Bassey Bassey, decried the neglect of rural people by the various levels of government.

He also decried huge money spent on overhead at the area councils, including bloated spending on office renovation and computers, rather than the main community development that is supposed to change the narrative of the people.

‘A lot of time we pay attention to the government at the federal and the state levels, and no one really pays attention to the government at the grassroots, which is the area council and the local government’, he said.

‘Most times you find out that the communities are not consulted. So it begs the question. What informs the kind of projects that the area councils and local governments take on’?

According to him, Echoes of the People is that platform where citizens and the government are supposed to have a dialogue and for the government to listen to the people.

He called for synergy between local government and the private sector in order to fast-track community development and to have a recognised platform for easy access to information and communication.

Also speaking, a representative of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, (RUWASSA), Chinyelu Ebrike, said that the agency was committed to providing water to the various rural areas in Nigeria’s capital.

Source: Hipcity Innovation Centre

Photo source: Zouzou Wizman