A civil society advocate and communication specialist in Akwa Ibom State, Lucy Eyo, has urged the state authorities to prioritise gender-responsive budgeting in each fiscal yr.
She mentioned the strategy would assist deal with the peculiar and urgent wants of girls, ladies and different weak teams throughout the well being and training sectors.
Eyo made the attraction on Friday in Uyo whereas flagging off a venture titled “Budgets as Policy: Advancing Gender Justice through Fiscal Analysis,” supported by the Nigerian Youth Futures Fund (NYFF).
She noticed {that a} evaluate of Akwa Ibom State’s budgets from 2023 to 2025 confirmed a persistent sample of gender-blind fiscal planning, which she mentioned had undermined ladies’s and ladies’ entry to healthcare and training providers.
She mentioned, “In 2023, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare was allocated ₦4.16 billion, yet only 36 per cent, approximately ₦1.5 billion, was actually spent, exposing a systemic gap between budgetary commitment and implementation. Critical gender-based violence (GBV) interventions, including trauma centres, rape referral centres and shelters, received minimal capital funding.
“On education, although the state has nominally increased education budgets over the years, dedicated funding for girls’ programmes remains absent. At the secondary school level, at least 14,200 of the 15,200 out-of-school children are girls, a crisis that budget lines do not adequately address.
“The 2025 revised budget of ₦1.65 trillion prioritises infrastructure and capital expenditure, with no publicly disaggregated gender markers in health or education spending, making it impossible to track whether women and girls are benefiting equitably.
“These gaps make a compelling case for a gender-responsive budget analysis and an evidence-based policy brief to drive accountability and advocacy.”
Speaking on the venture, Eyo mentioned the train would look at sectoral allocations and expenditure priorities, monitor spending tendencies, establish funding gaps in crucial social sectors and assess the extent to which gender issues had been mirrored in the state’s budgeting course of.
“The analysis will focus particularly on women’s empowerment, education, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and healthcare,” she mentioned.
Eyo added that the findings can be shared with authorities stakeholders, civil society organisations, media practitioners and different related companions to advertise evidence-based dialogue on public monetary administration.
