Cross River State Governor Bassey Otu has introduced a new monitoring and evaluation policy to strengthen accountability in public spending and ensure government projects deliver measurable benefits to residents.
The policy, launched in Calabar on Thursday with technical and financial support from UNICEF, establishes a framework for tracking government programmes and expenditure across ministries, departments, agencies and local government councils.
Represented by the Vice Chairman of the State Planning Commission, Dr Bong Duke, Otu said the policy would shift the government’s focus from counting projects to measuring their impact on citizens.
“Our administration is guided by the belief that governance must be measured not merely by the number of projects initiated or activities undertaken, but by the positive and lasting impact they make in the lives of our citizens,” he said.
The governor said the framework was designed to address gaps between planning, budgeting and project implementation, adding that public institutions would be expected to provide verifiable evidence of their performance.
“Reports must go beyond figures and paperwork; they must provide credible information that supports action, accountability and better service delivery,” he said.
The policy aligns with the Cross River State Development Plan 2024–2033 and introduces performance indicators for government institutions and local councils. Its implementation is expected to include timelines and key performance indicators beginning with the 2027 budget cycle.
Otu said monitoring and evaluation should help public institutions identify problems and improve their work rather than create unnecessary bureaucracy or intimidate civil servants.
He also pledged that monitoring teams would operate within the law and the policy framework to prevent abuse.
Duke said the policy would be coordinated by the State Planning Commission across the state’s 18 local government areas, with the aim of aligning public spending with development priorities.
Earlier, UNICEF Enugu Field Office Chief, Dr Juliet Chiluwe, described the policy as a practical instrument for ensuring public investments translate into improved services, particularly for children and underserved communities.
She said UNICEF supported the development of the framework following a needs assessment and consultations, adding that it adapts the national monitoring and evaluation policy to Cross River’s priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals.
“The ultimate test of the policy lies in what it changes for children — whether children are healthier, learning and better protected, and whether essential services are reaching underserved communities,” Chiluwe said.
She praised its emphasis on child-sensitive indicators, disaggregated data and community participation, saying these measures would help identify inequalities and enable residents to assess public services.
Chiluwe also stressed the need for trained personnel, reliable information systems and sustained funding to ensure effective implementation.
Presenting the needs assessment, Dr Felix Awara Eke of the University of Calabar said a study involving 70 respondents across ministries, departments and agencies identified significant weaknesses in the state’s monitoring system.
The findings included the absence of a clear legal mandate for monitoring and evaluation, limited institutional structures, inadequate staff capacity, a lack of dedicated budget lines and weak data archiving.
Eke, represented by the Chief Planning Officer of the State Planning Commission, Dr Ofem Obono Oka, recommended establishing a legal framework for monitoring and evaluation, creating a dedicated unit within the Planning Commission and developing a strategy linked to the state’s development plan.
Other recommendations included training public officials in results-based planning and enacting a compliance law with penalties for failing to use monitoring and evaluation data.
The new policy is intended to improve coordination between government planning and implementation, strengthen oversight of public expenditure and make the delivery of essential services more responsive to residents’ needs.
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