Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, Governor of Bauchi State has presented over N167 billion as 2020 appropriation bill to the State House of Assembly for both capital and recurrent expenditures.
The budget tagged “budget of renewal of hope” estimated N72,615,397,214 as recurrent expenditure while N94,600,410,286 was allocated for capital projects.
WikkiTimes authoritatively reports that the budget estimates is the least in 3 years, as 2017, 2018 and 2019 budgets were above what is currently budgeted.
Governor Bala, speaking at the state Assembly during the presentation said the state will boost its revenue generating agencies to woo the sum of N102,474,311,276 as revenue, which he said will reduce the over dependence on federal allocations.
The governor who said the reduced budget of the state was anchored on the present economic realities, added that his administration will block leakages to enable the state maximally utilize the meager resources to the benefits of the entire citizenry.
Bala said the 2020 appropriation was prepared on the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, which will help the government to comply with the State Fiscal Responsibility Law, 2009.
He said his administration will move from the 26 digits to current 52 digits of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards, National Chart of Accounts, to ease the state generate and interpret accounting results to meet domestic and national requirements.
Governor Bala Mohammed said as part of measures to ensure that the appropriation defy the usual order of budget implementation which he described as inappropriate, his budget team in the build-up to the budget preparations has factored measures such as achieving a recurrent to capital expenditure ratio, create efficiencies in personnel and overhead expenditure to free resources for development, growth of IGR by a minimum of at least 20 percent per annum, among others.
Bala said the state government will ensure that the areas of health, education, agriculture, youth empowerment, job creation and community development, poverty reduction receive a boost through pragmatic initiatives.
Governor Bala said the downsized budget was to enable the state holistically implement every allocation, which hitherto was not the case with previous administrations. On the implementation of the 2019 Budget, the Governor attributed the low pace implementation to the change in the mantle of leadership in the state, adding that the previous.
WikkiTimes can report that budget performance in the state is usually very low, largely due to corruption, and misplacement of priorities.
But government officials have consistently denied the allegations, citing paucity of funds as reasons.
