Gov. Abubakar Bello of Niger on Tuesday presented a budget of N148.211 billion for the 2020 fiscal year to the state House of Assembly.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the budget, which is N194.698 billion (13.2 per cent) lower than the 2019 budget, has been christened “Budget of Inclusion for Sustainable Development.”
A breakdown of the budget showed that N78.243 billion (52.79 per cent) was allocated to capital expenditure, while N69.968 billion (47.21 per cent) was earmarked for recurrent expenditure.
The general administration was allocated N5.472 billion; economic sector, N51.836 billion; social sector, N19.757 billion; and law and justice, N1.777 billion all from the capital expenditure.
Bello explained that the 2020 budget is anchored on completion of projects in line with the yearnings and aspirations of the people.
“As we strive to consolidate and improve on the gains recorded so far, we shall focus on completing all ongoing projects.
“Town hall meetings were organized to receive inputs from the citizens into the budget-making process. This is in line with our commitment of enhancing people’s participation in governance,” he added.
According to him, the budget would be funded with revenues from statutory allocation, capital receipts, value-added tax and refunds from constructed Federal Government roads.
Others are refunded from pension fund administrators, dividends from North-South Power and refund from National Electricity Liability Company.
The Speaker of the House, Alhaji Abdullahi Wuse, lauded the achievements of the Bello administration in the last four years across all sectors.
Wuse said the house would ensure the passage of the bill in record time to enable the state government to consolidate its achievements.
He called for more concerted efforts to tackle security challenges ravaging parts of the state.
“I, therefore, urge the security agents in the state to maximally deploy their skills and tackle the challenges to enable our electorate to return to their homes.
“It is my prayer that Niger state will come out of the security challenge in no distant time,” he added.
