By Abdallah el-Kurebe, Editor
Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger state Tuesday, presented the 2019 Appropriation bill of N159.52 billion to the State House of Assembly.
Tagged, “The Budget of Sustenance and Continuity,” the budget is 5.43 per cent higher than that of 2018.
According to the breakdown, N96.20 billion (60.31 per cent) is for capital expenditure, while N63.324 billion (39.69 per cent) is for recurrent expenditure.
While General administration got N8.755 billion; economic, social as well as law and justice sectors got N56.032 billion, N29.876 billion and N1.540 billion, respectively.
Bello stated that the 2019 estimate would focus on completion of ongoing projects that had direct bearing on lives of the citizens.
“The 2019 budget is hereby christened, ‘Budget of Sustenance and Continuity’ with priority attention on completing ongoing projects. Particularly, projects in the areas of infrastructure, education, water resources, agriculture and social development to stimulate economic growth through investment inflows,” he explained.
On funding, the governor said revenues from statutory allocation, capital receipts, Value added tax, Paris Club Refunds, Refund from pension fund administrators, dividends from North-South Power and Refund from National Electricity Liability Company, would fund the budget.
The Speaker of the House, Alhaji Ahmed Marafa said Bello administration had recorded great achievements in the last three years, adding that the legislative arm would ensure the passage of the bill in record time to enable the state government consolidate on its achievements.
He assured that revenue leakages would be blocked through collaboration of the Assembly with the Executive.
