Follow Us on Google
From Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
The Taraba State House of Assembly on Wednesday passed the 2023 budget proposal into law.
The budget of N173,234,537,459.40 has an increase of about Five Hundred Million Naira over the initial proposal submitted by the state governor a fortnight ago.
Speaker of the State House of Assembly Professor Joseph Albasu Kunini said that the increase was necessary to make provision for the state Electoral Commission as the House is envisaging Council election in the year in view but there was no provision to that effect.
Kunini who commended his colleagues for the efforts put in place to ensure speedy passage of the Bill into law said that as elected representatives of the people, they have a duty to sometimes sacrifice their comfort to make sure that the right thing is done and they deliver on their core mandate of providing the good legislative framework for the smooth running of the state.
“You will recall that about two weeks ago, the state Governor Darius Ishaku presented this budget to the House for consideration and I promised that we would expedite actions to ensure its speedy passage. We went to work immediately and today, we have come up with this new law after thoroughly scrutinizing it. This is a result of painstaking engagement that cost most of us a lot of time even outside the normal working hours.
“As legislators, we would continue to do our own bit to ensure that the people of the state enjoy the dividends of democracy. This is a transition budget and it is important that we get it right. This is what we have done.
“Very soon, we would be proceeding on recess for the holidays. Let me use this opportunity to call on my dear colleagues to use this season to have meaningful engagements with their constituents and sensitize them on the need to get actively involved in politics. The people must realize that 2023 is of enormous importance and we can not allow anything to jeopardize the opportunity for the people to elect the right leaders for themselves.”
The Speaker commended the media in the state for being professional in the discharge of their duties and urged them to continue to uphold the ethics of the profession at all times.
