Hanny Henry
Seventeen local government officials from Adamawa and Borno states have completed a six-day training on Microsoft Excel to improve budget preparation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation at the grassroots level.
The training, held in Yola, brought together budget and planning officers from Guyuk Local Government Area of Adamawa State and Biu and Kwaya Kusar local government areas of Borno State.
It was organised under a project titled “Support to Improving Social Cohesion through Community Development Planning in Three Local Government Areas in North East Nigeria.”
The project is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Union (EU), with Oxfam, GIZ, CRUDAN, CODERHI and the Yaharakari Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation serving as implementation partners.
ATEK Innovations Ltd facilitated the training on behalf of Oxfam and its partners to strengthen the capacity of local government officials to use digital tools in financial management and development planning.
The participants were trained in nine modules, covering basic Excel operations, budget dashboard development, data governance and citizen-friendly financial reporting.
The skills are expected to help them move from manual record-keeping to more efficient, data-driven systems.
Speaking at the opening session, Tijjani Hamza, Oxfam Country Director, represented by the Project Coordinator, Samuel Lashom, urged the participants to take the training seriously and apply the knowledge acquired to their official duties.
He stressed that accurate financial records, transparency and accountability were essential to building public trust and improving the monitoring of Community Development Plans (CDPs) in the three local government areas.
The organisers said the adoption of Excel and other information and communication technology tools would help budget and planning officers prepare evidence-based budgets, track expenditure and monitor development projects more effectively.
At the end of the six-day programme, all 17 participants successfully completed the training and received certificates.
Some participants who spoke, described the training as an opportunity to improve their professional skills and pledged to apply the knowledge gained to their work.
Danladi Usman, Budget Officer of Biu Local Government Area, said he planned to apply the newly acquired skills to budget preparation from 2027.
He expressed confidence that using the skills in his official duties would produce significant improvements in the budgeting process.
Hurera Modu, another participant from Kwaya Kusar Local Government Area, said she had never imagined she could learn to use Microsoft Excel effectively for her work.
Similarly, Abdul Mohammed Kasila, from Biu Local Government Area, said the training had equipped participants with knowledge beyond their expectations. He thanked the organisers for providing the opportunity to improve their professional capacity.
