The Borno Government says the 2027 budget will consolidate the achievements and gains recorded by the state under the leadership of Gov. Babagana Zulum.
The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr Bukar Tijjani, stated this on Thursday in Maiduguri at the 2027 Budget Stakeholders’ Consultative Town Hall Meeting.
Tijjani said the 2026 budget was designed to address the priorities and needs of citizens, workers, pensioners and other stakeholders across critical sectors.
He listed health, education, infrastructure and the resettlement of citizens displaced by insecurity to their ancestral communities among the key areas receiving attention.
According to him, the 2027 budget will build on the gains achieved so far while responding to emerging needs across the state.
The SSG welcomed stakeholders to present meaningful and development-oriented priorities that would have direct impact on the lives and wellbeing of citizens.
He said the government was committed to participatory budgeting, adding that inputs from communities and stakeholders would help shape its development priorities.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mr Bukar Dalatu, said the town hall meeting was aimed at ensuring that community needs were adequately reflected in the 2027 budget.
Dalatu said the consultations provided residents with an opportunity to identify urgent needs in their communities and make direct inputs into the state’s budget planning process.
He said recommendations from the consultations would guide the government’s priorities as it prepared the 2027 budget.
He added that similar consultations were being held across communities in Borno to enable residents to identify projects and services they wanted the government to prioritise.
In his remarks, the Chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Borno Council, Mr Abdulkareem Haruna, urged the government to prioritise recruitment and empowerment of information officers across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Haruna said strengthening information officers would enhance effective communication and implementation of government programmes and budgets.
He also called for an enabling environment for state-owned media organisations and the establishment of community radio stations across the state.
Similarly, Mr Yusuf Tom, State Coordinator, Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), urged the government to prioritise investment in nutrition.
Tom said greater investment in nutrition would contribute to healthier children, stronger families and a more productive population in Borno.