Kaduna State House of Assembly has passed a budget of N179.053 billion for the 2013 fiscal year, with an increase of about N2,573,561,178 on the original budget submitted to the House last December.
Presenting the report of the Appropriation and Implementation Committee to the Assembly for ratification, the Chairman of the committee, Yohanna Jatau, said the increase was made because of the inclusion of some vital services, which deserved attention, but were omitted during budget preparation.
He said the services were included through the position of the executive and the committee, adding that the capital budget was increased from N102.038billion to N104.5 billion, while the recurrent budget was increased from N74.441billion to N74.553 billion.
Former governor, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, last December, presented a budget estimate of about N176,480,343,008 to the Assembly for consideration, two days before his death.
Presenting the report, Jatau said: “At the time of the harmonisation exercise, it was observed that little attention was given to certain aspects, especially in the education, health and agricultural sectors.
“This calls for a drastic action to address the problems bedevilling the sectors. In fact, they must be rescued from decay by the executive under the strong input from the House.
“Mr. Chairman sir, Hon. Members, a particular mention of one of these sectors is the education sector where it has been observed that in view of the obvious deterioration of the sector and the dangers inherent in the policy of generate and remit system and equally as observed in 1993, which brought about the shift to generating and spending, there should be a call by the House to direct the expunging/removal of the education sector from the system or policy of generate and remit as is currently done to allow the schools perform effectively.
“This will guarantee good welfare service to students, competitive performance, general maintenance and upkeep of structures, dormitories, laboratories, administrative and school environments, etc. The capital expenditure of the Judiciary and the Civil Service Commission should also be looked into with a view to providing sound structures and equipment. Thus there is need to inject funds into these places.
“At the conclusion of the defence and harmonisation exercises, it has become necessary to invite the House to note that the 2013 budget estimates have an initial proposal of N176,480,343,008, made up of N74,441,824,583 for recurrent expenditure” and N102,038,518,42 for capital expenditure.
“That at the defence and harmonisation exercises, some internal transfers and adjustments were effected to make the budget workable. Also, additional inclusion of other vital services, which were oversight, were harmonised through the position of the executive and the committee, amounting to N5,223,203,702, which cuts across all sectors of the capital expenditure.