USAID, PEP LAUNCHES WEB ACCOUNTABILITY APPLICATION FOR EBONYI LGAs

Public Enlightenment Project, a Civil Society Organization, has developed a web reporting application for documenting government budget, procurements in Ebonyi State.

The Executive Director PEP, Lilian Ezenwa, disclosed this during the organization's 2nd Quarter Review Meeting for its project: the Ebonyi Local Government Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and sustainability (LFTAS) program. The program is a sub grant project of USAID- State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness( State2State) project focussing on Local government areas. The meeting was organized by PEP to review its activities so far, under the project and interface with stakeholders on ways of improvement. Its essence was to promote democratic ideals and increase citizens engagement in democratic governance at the Local government levels. The meeting was attended by stakeholders from the ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters and Account, Local Government service Commission, State House of Assembly, NIgeria Union of Journalists NUJ and others. According to Ezenwa, the application will provide a viable channel in solving the common problem of weaknesses in the governance structure in the local government system as it serves as a feedback mechanism where government officials will respond to issues brought out by citizens. She said " This is a review of Stakeholders on the activities that PEP have already conducted in the second quarter of their program. Is like a score card giving back the Stakeholders what you have done , having them rate them and bring ideas to help the program to succeed. "The app called “MEEPEEYA” was designed for the local government system that will make it seemless for the LG transactions and management to be done effectively without hurdles. " This app will help the citizens have access to get critical information about the government, especially at the local government areas where development should be actually based like knowing how much the local government receives each month. Ezenwa also added that PEP under this Quarter Two, developed a community training key needs manual which teaches the community Stakeholders or any interested person the processes and procedures to conduct a community key needs identification project . The stakeholders, however, observed that poor renumeration for civil servants contributes to high level of corruption at the LGAs , and advocated synergy between the Ministry of Local government/Chieftaincy Matters and the Local Government Service Commission as a way of strengthening the system. They also advocated for a review of systems and operations at the local government departments to entrench a more transparent culture among the staff.