Budget is an important document that shows the direction of a government in terms of fiscal expenditures and provision of developmental projects to its constituents.
A review of the Niger State budget performance documents between 2022 and 2023 by WikkiTimes has shown that the state has not been able to meet its fiscal targets for both years.
In 2022, only 40% of the total proposed budget was achieved.
While the state planned to spend the sum of N225.1 billion, it could only spend N94.2 billion for the year.
In 2023, the sum of N473 billion was earmarked to be spent by the government, however only the sum of N190.9 billion was actually spent representing 40.3%.
Capital Expenditure takes a Hit
A further review of the budget documents show that in 2022, Niger state recorded a total revenue of N143.3 billion, despite spending only N94.2 billion in the year.
However, the state failed to meet its projected capital expenditure for the year, recording only 18.6% performance. The sum of N137.581 billion was earmarked to be spent but only N25.6 billion was spent.
The same development repeated itself in 2023, with only 34.1% performance recorded for capital expenditure. While N363 billion was the actual capital expenditure, only the sum of N123.9 billion was spent.
The drop on capital expenditure may have a dire impact on the projects earmarked by the state for the year.
