Cross River State Governor Bassey Otu has launched a state Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Policy aimed at strengthening accountability, tracking public expenditure and measuring the impact of government projects.
Gatekeepers News reports that the policy, unveiled on Thursday at the Metropolitan Hotel in Calabar with technical and financial support from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), is designed to bridge gaps between government planning, budgeting and project implementation.
The framework establishes a results-based approach to governance, requiring Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), as well as Local Government Councils, to measure performance against defined indicators.
Represented at the launch by the Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Cross River State Planning Commission, Dr Bong Duke, Governor Otu said his administration was moving beyond counting projects to assessing their actual 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,” the governor said.
He charged public institutions to regard monitoring and evaluation as a practical instrument for improving service delivery rather than an additional administrative burden.
“Reports must go beyond figures and paperwork; they must provide credible information that supports action, accountability, and better service delivery,” he said.
“Monitoring and evaluation is not intended to create fear among public officers or add unnecessary bureaucracy… It is a means of identifying problems, learning from experience, and improving the quality of our collective performance.”
The governor said the policy aligns with the Cross River State Development Plan 2024–2033 and would introduce performance indicators across government institutions to ensure that public spending delivers measurable outcomes.
He also highlighted the need to prioritise vulnerable groups, including children, women, girls, persons with disabilities, rural communities and underserved populations facing barriers to essential public services.
Otu further assured stakeholders that the newly established monitoring and evaluation structures would operate within the law and the policy framework to prevent abuse, including attempts to use monitoring activities for extortion.
He said the State Planning Commission would coordinate implementation across all MDAs and the state’s 18 local government areas, from Bakassi to Obanliku, to harmonise evaluation processes and advance the administration’s People’s First agenda.
Speaking at the event, UNICEF Chief of Field Office for Enugu, Dr Juliet Chiluwe, described the policy as a practical tool for translating public investments into measurable improvements in citizens’ lives, particularly those of children.
She congratulated the state government and residents, noting that the framework went beyond a policy document by embedding evidence, accountability and learning into development planning and implementation.
Chiluwe disclosed that UNICEF provided technical and financial support for the locally developed policy, which followed a needs assessment and extensive consultations.
She explained that the framework adapts Nigeria’s National Monitoring and Evaluation Policy to Cross River’s priorities while aligning them with national development objectives and the Sustainable Development Goals.
According to her, the policy would address fragmented and underfunded monitoring arrangements by establishing a coordinated system for tracking results across state and local governments.
“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,” she said.
Chiluwe also praised the policy’s emphasis on disaggregated data, child-sensitive indicators and participatory monitoring, which she said would help expose inequalities and enable communities to contribute to assessments of public services.
She identified planning, coordination, capacity-building and financing as the policy’s four key implementation priorities, supported by common indicators, annual costed monitoring and evaluation plans, and reliable information systems.
She stressed that successful implementation would require trained personnel and sustained funding.
Earlier, Duke said the policy was anchored on the Cross River State Development Plan 2024–2033, which envisions a thriving, inclusive and green economy.
He emphasised the need to ensure that government budgets reflect the priorities outlined in the development plan, adding that timelines and key performance indicators would be strictly enforced from the 2027 budget cycle.
Presenting findings from the needs assessment, Dr Felix Awara Eke of the University of Calabar said a study involving 70 respondents across MDAs identified significant weaknesses in the state’s existing monitoring and evaluation system.
The assessment found the absence of a clear legal mandate for monitoring and evaluation, dedicated structures beyond Planning, Research and Statistics departments, adequate institutional capacity, specific budget lines and effective data-archiving systems.
Eke, who was represented by the Chief Planning Officer of the State Planning Commission, Dr Ofem Obono Oka, recommended five measures to strengthen the system.
These include establishing a legal mandate for monitoring and evaluation, creating a dedicated M&E unit within the Planning Commission, developing a strategy linked to the State Development Plan, building capacity for results-based planning and enacting a compliance law with penalties for failing to use monitoring and evaluation data.
The state government said the policy would provide a coordinated framework for monitoring public projects and expenditure, improving institutional performance and ensuring that development programmes produce measurable benefits for residents.
