Sule presents N112.92b budget to Assembly

 Linus Oota, Lafia 

NASARAWA State Governor Abdullahi Sule on Tuesday presented the 2021 budget proposal of N112. 92billion to the House of Assembly for consideration and approval.

Speaker Ibrahim Balarabe-Abdullahi, who received the budget, assured the executive of speedy passage of the budget for the state’s development.

Governor Sule, who tagged the budget as “Budget of Economic Recuperation”, said it was in compliance with Section 121(1) of the 1999 Constitution.

He said his administration’s policy is anchored on transparency, accountability and prudence management of lean resources.

“The total expenditure outlay of the 2021 estimate is One Hundred and Twelve Billion, Nine Hundred and Twenty-three Million, One Hundred and Seventy-four Thousand, Five Hundred and Forty-three Naira (N112,923,174,543).

“Fifty-one Billion, Fifty Million, Four Hundred and Fifty-six Thousand, Eight Hundred and Seventeen Naira (N51,050,456,817), representing 45.21 per cent of the budget, is earmarked for Non-debt Recurrent Expenditure, which comprises personnel and overhead costs.

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“Fifty-four Billion, Eight Hundred and Fifty-four Million, Nine Hundred and Eighty-five Thousand, Six Hundred and Ninety-five Naira (N54,854,985,695),  representing 48.58 per cent of the total budget, is earmarked as Capital Expenditure for 2021.

“Similarly, the sum of Seven Billion, Seventeen Million, Seven Hundred and Thirty-two Thousand, Thirty-one Naira (N7,017,732,031) has been allocated to Consolidated Revenue Fund Charges for debt servicing, pension and gratuity. This represents 6.21 per cent of the total budget.”

The governor said the budget framework shows an increase of N4,478,368,930) over and above the Fiscal Year 2020 original budget estimate, translating to 4.13 per cent increase.

He outlined the 2021 Appropriation Bill major sectoral allocation as follows-

Infrastructure -N19.6 billion (17.36 per cent), Education/Science & ICT-N35.4 billion (31.35 per cent), Governance/Security & General Administration-N14.3 billion (12.66 per cent), Legislation-N2.7 billion (2.39 per cent), Law & Justice-N3.8 billion (3.37 per cent), Finance/Investment/Trade-N5.7 billion (5.05 per cent) and Health-N11.4 billion (10.10 per cent.

Sule urged the lawmakers to give the budget a speedy passage to enable the state government complete ongoing projects as well as execute new ones across the state.

Balarabe-Abdullahi assured the state government of speedy passage of the budget.