The Kano State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has called on members to rise up to the challenge of budget tracking in a democratic dispensation.

The NUJ Chairman in the state, Abbas Ibrahim, made the call at a training workshop for journalists on budget tracking and service delivery.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event was organised by Partnership to Engage, Report and Learn(PERL), a DFID-funded programme in conjunction with the Kano State council of NUJ.

Ibrahim said there was the need for journalists to be conversant with reporting, monitoring and assessing how a proposed government fiscal policy was being implemented.

He said the training initiative had been conceived to give a professional touch to journalists reporting issues relating to fiscal responsibility.

According to him, there are steps in the budget process which should be clearly comprehended by reporters covering fiscal appropriation.

He said it was the responsibility of journalists to inform and educate the public on areas to be tackled to ensure service delivery in an ideal democratic setting.

Ibrahim said acquiring such a professional knowledge was necessary considering the myriad of expectations from the government.

“There are key areas of strategic considerations which should be carefully scrutinised by the media for the public to understand the basic concept of service delivery in a democratic setting,” he said.

In his remarks, a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Federal University, Dutse, Dr Dalhatu Sani-Yola, said there was the compelling need for the media to track budgets and monitor projects to ensure accountability.

He said resources held in trust must be utilised for the people, adding that budget tracking would check abuse of public funds and improve implementation of projects.