Covenant University played host to the fifth edition of the National Budget Round-Table Discussion, themed, ‘National Budgeting and Digitalization for Sustainable Development in Africa: The Nigerian Experience.’
The event which held recently at the Covenant University Centre for Research Innovation and Discoveries (CUCRID), was a collaborative event between Covenant University Centre for Physical and Development Research (CRPDRE) and the University of Warwick UK and had the Statistician General of the Federation, Prince Adeyemi Semiu Adeniran, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the National Bureau of Statistics, represented by Dr. Mustapha Daramola, and other dignitaries, in attendance.
While making his opening remarks at the event, the Vice Chancellor of Covenant University, Professor Abiodun H. Adebayo, stressed on the importance of Covenant’s collaboration with Warwick University and acknowledged the role of Warwick’s Academic Director for Africa, Professor Franklyn Lisk, who is a representative of Warwick at the event.
Speaking on the theme of the event, the Vice-Chancellor, noted that the Nigerian budget is one of the highest ever spent, citing far-reaching implications such as sourcing for loans from external platforms, most of which would be used to service debt repayment. Professor Adebayo, stated that innovative solutions and digitalization of processes would yield many benefits to the Nigerian economy.
Responding to the remarks of the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adebayo, the representative of the first Keynote Speaker of the event, Prince Adeyemi Semiu Adeniran, the Statistician General of the Federation and the Chief Executive Officer of the National Bureau of Statistics, Dr. Mustapha Daramola, assured that the government since its realization, is steadily collecting data to monitor the progress and implementation of digital processes in Nigeria.
Earlier in his welcome remarks, the Chair, Covenant University Centre for Physical and Development Research (CRPDRE), welcomed all guests and participants to the event. He appreciated the Management of Covenant University for creating the enabling environment for the success of the event, and emphasized the need for digitalization in improving budgeting in Nigeria.
He highlighted the significant contributions of CEPDeR to key policy and development discourse, while citing the growth of the Centre and its achievements with fellows, both locally and internationally. According to him, the Centre boasts of over 125 fellows since inception and has had the privilege of hosting interns, postgraduate students, Fulbright scholars, researchers and guests from different parts of the world. While emphasizing the need for understanding digitalization towards improving budgeting at a time when the Nigerian economy is seeing a decline in government revenue while her debt profile is increasing.
Furthermore, Mr. Samuel Ebele Okoye, who represented the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Nigeria, Dr. Williams Alo, spoke on the critical role digitalization plays in promoting transparency in government and mentioned how it would boost public engagement on budgeting process.
Others at the event were the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Olujide Adekeye; the Ag Registrar, Mrs. Regina Tobi-David; other members of the University Management and other distinguished panelists.
The event which was co-hosted by the University of Warwick had other partners; Nestle, Ota-Parapo Chamber of Commerce Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Hebron Drinks and Sangate Industries Limited.