…Tags Budget of Rural Transformation for Inclusive Development
From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna state on Tuesday presented a draft budget proposal of N458,271,299, 477.66 to the people of Kaduna state for their consideration and input before taking the proposal to the Kaduna State House of Assembly.
The draft budget proposal tagged Budget of Rural Transformation for Inclusive Development, is composed of capital expenditure of N318,836,576,588.28 and recurrent expenditure of N139,434,722,889.38 maintaining the minimum budgeting baseline model of 60:40 ratio of capital to recurrent.
The draft budget for education is 25.19%, while health carries 15.63% totaling about 40.82% of the total draft proposed budget.
The assumptions for the draft proposed budget is based on crude oil price averaging at $70 per barrel, production benchmark at an average of 1.6m barrels per day, exchange rate averaging at ₦750/$1, inflation rate at 23.6% and mineral ratio at 25%.
Addressing the first town hall meeting of his administration, Governor Uba Sani reiterated his plans to revitalize the economy of people of the rural areas and also ensure human capital development.
He added that the budget will focus on agriculture, regional, rural economic development, security, infrastructure and human capital development.
He said education will get lion share of the budget because education is the bedrock of any meaningful development, assuring that all children in Kaduna State can have free and quality education at all levels.
The Governor assured the people of the State that the draft budget will give adequate consideration to their basic needs while targeting all round development of the State.
He said the town hall meeting is a way of getting the citizens involved in the draft budget which is geared towards effective utilization of public funds based on the needs of the people.
Kaduna state Commissioner for Planning and Budget Commission, Mr Mukhtar Ahmed while giving an overview of the draft proposed budget said the budget aimed to capture one million pro-poor people into the social register and targeted internally generated revenue of N120 billion.
“The 2024-2026 draft revenue and expenditure estimates of the state’s recurrent revenue projections for this budget equals ₦225,341,256,643.08, with the break down as follows: opening balance, N13,802,778,118.60, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), N120,001,818,558.44, statutory allocation from Federation Account, N84,386,659,966.04, others (exchange gains, excess bank charges, equalization funds, & ecological funds) N7.15 billion.
“Statutory obligations of the state are in the region of ₦37,538,565,554.96 broken down as follows: gratuity ₦2.4 billion, pension, ₦6,087,225,759.72, 8% government contribution to staff pension scheme, ₦3,651,339,795.24, foreign and domestic loans & interest repayment, N25.4 billion totalling, ₦37,538,565,554.96.
“The recurrent expenditure estimates stand at ₦139,434,722,889.38, while the net recurrent revenue, ₦85,906,533,753.71 is captured as follows: personnel cost, N74,967,939,528.47, overhead cost, N39,066,783,360.91 and public debt charges, N25.4 billion.
“The draft budget had been posted on the ministry’s website and other open government platforms for inputs from civil society organisations and other stakeholders before the amendments will be collated and presented to the Kaduna state House of Assembly”. The Commissioner said.