His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, Kauran Bauchi today presented the sum of N213, 914, 559,427 as proposed budget for the 2021 fiscal year to the State House of Assembly.
Presenting the proposed budget at the floor of the house, Governor Bala said N93,197, 307 which is 44% of the budget was set aside for recurrent expenditure.
The Governor added that the sum of N31.7 billion was earmarked for Personnel Cost while N31.5 billion was for Overhead Cost respectively.
The Governor said the sum of N120, 717,252,458 or 56 per cent on capital expenditure, with the economic sector taking the lion share of N64 billion and closely followed by the social sector which will gulp the sum of N34 billion.
He said the sum of N180. Billion is estimated recurrent revenue, with N68. 3 billion expected as Statutory Allocation, N24 billion will be realised from Internally Generated Revenue while N16 billion will be made from Value Added Tax.
The Governor explained that the proposed 2021 budget was higher than that of last year, which was N167, 215,807, 500 to capture programmes and projects that are strategic to the development of the state.
He said to make the 2021 budget participatory, inclusive and grassroots orientated, Public Hearings were conducted in the three senatorial districts where input from stakeholders was taken and included in the budget.
The Governor then solicited for the cooperation of the members of the legislature to ensure that the 2021 budget succeeds owing to the challenges in the economy which put the country in recession combined with serious security issues.
He believes that for Nigeria to benefit maximally from the global trends, the country must diversify its economy and liberalised trade, saying that the declaration by President Muhammadu Buhari to reopen borders of the country is a welcome development.
In his response, Speaker of the House, Suleiman Abubakar thanked the Governor for his proactive programmes and policies since assumption of office and promised to ensure that the state lawmakers intensify efforts for a speedy passage of the 2021 proposed budget into law.
