• Abubakar presents N167.95bn to Bauchi Assembly
From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri and Paul Orude Bauchi
Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima has proposed N170.2 billion as budget for the 2018 financial year.
The budget size, he noted, was less than the outgoing year by N13,560,875,081.00, which represents 7.38 percent.
The state governor, while presenting the proposal, said education will receive the highest allocation of N22.6 billion, adding that the decision was to tackle social problems and insecurity with education.
He said the budget titled ‘’Budget of Resettlement and Empowerment’’ was aimed at resettling and empowering the people, particularly thousands of citizens displaced by the nearly eight years Boko Haram insurgency.
According to him, the budget will be financed through internally generated revenue (IGR) estimated at N16.8 million and statutory allocation from the federation account totalling N115, 834,194,000, while he put expected capital receipt at N38, 469,772 billion.
He said the total capital expenditure was estimated to cost N108,408,580 billion and the total recurrent expenditure is N61,870,934 billion.
Announcing sectoral allocations, Shettima said N12.6 was set aside for building infrastructures and management of secondary school education, N10.3 billion for tertiary schools and N4.4 billion for primary and junior secondary schools through the State’s Universal Basic Education Commission with the combine total for education, standing at N27.2 billion.
“I am happy to announce that most of the schools, health centres and residential houses in some of the local governments destroyed during the insurgency, have been reconstructed and services fully restored,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Bauchi State governor, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, yesterday presented a budget of N167.95 billion for the 2018 fiscal year to the state House of Assembly. The proposed budget, tagged, “Budget of Consideration”, according to the governor, will place priority on agriculture, health, education, water supply, roads and women and youth empowerment.