By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja
Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi state has presented N130,546,068,026 to the state House of Assembly as budget for the 2021 fiscal year.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Onogwu Muhammed, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday in Lokoja.
He qouted the Governor as saying that the 2021 appropriation bill, christened “Budget of Accelerated Recovery”, represents an increase of N7,575,110,017 or 6.16 percentage, when compared with the 2020 final Budget.
The Governor added that the fiscal strategy of government was anchored on the on-going Public Financial Management Reform (PFM).
Bello said that over the period between 2021-2023, the State Government fiscal policy would be directed but not limited to:
a. improving the efficiency and effectiveness of spending;
b. achieving better balance between capital and recurrent expenditure;
c. achieving greater control of the wage bill;
d. directing capital expenditure on critical infrastructure such as Agriculture, Health, Road, Education, Security, Water, Youth engagement etc;
e. boosting revenue receipts by identifying and blocking revenue leakages; and
f. gradual fiscal consolidation in order to achieve a level of public spending consistent with macroeconomic stability and sustainable debt.
Speaking further, Bello said the draft Revenue Budget had an estimated outlay of N130,546,068,026, out of which N82,464,412,854, representing 63.17%, would go into Recurrent Revenue.
He added that 36.83 per cent of the expenditure amounting to N48,081,655,172 will go into Capital Receipts.
On the objectives and target of the 2021 budget, Bello said the specific fiscal objectives of Kogi State was effective allocation of scarce resources to identified critical programmes and projects, with the following major targets:
a. To improve the quality and affordability of education available to citizens at all levels in order to produce the articulate and skilled manpower required for economic transformation of the State;
b. To improve quality and access to healthcare leading to improvement in efficiency of the healthcare delivery system;
c. To ensure food security and generate a high proportion of the GDP from agriculture;
d. To exploit the full commercial potentials of our location and endowments as a State and expand trade to ensure that products from agricultural and industrial activities have access to markets locally and internationally;
e. To ensure gainful employments for our youths, create entrepreneurship opportunities, especially in Agriculture and Infotech, and develop their talents for livelihood;
f. To achieve sustainable development and promote social cum economic development through culture and tourism;
g. To establish necessary frameworks for a robust mining and solid minerals sector, with an aim to branding Kogi State as the foremost mining and minerals exploitation destination in the country;
h. To improve the road network in the State through continued construction of new roads and bridges and rehabilitation of existing ones in both urban and rural areas;
i. In view of climate change, to continually improve on environmentally friendly practices and enhance our disaster management capabilities in order to secure our people better;
j. To improve the quantity, quality and access to safe water for domestic, commercial and industrial uses as well as improve sanitation and hygiene practices among the citizens;
k. To ensure sustainable use of the environment and continuous management of environmental challenges such as pollution, degradation and gully erosion;
l. To ensure easy and equitable access to lands for agricultural, residential, commercial and industrial uses to all citizens and investors to facilitate the social and economic development of the State;
m. To improve the quantity of decent housing available to citizens and expand affordable housing options through the use of public private partnership arrangements;
n. To improve and facilitate the creation of viable urban communities in the state;
o. To reduce average power outage by expanding the generation and distribution of electricity across the state through regular and renewable options;
p. To rejuvenate the transportation sector and all its players to facilitate Internally Generated Revenue;
q. To provide an enabling environment to facilitate economic and social development in the State as well as introduce and implement reform measures to strengthen governance institutions, i.e. the Civil Service, Pensions Administration, etc.;
r. To increase security of lives and property in the state;
s. To continue to expand the State’s revenue base in the area of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and
t. To reduce the level of Domestic Debt Profile of Kogi State.
In his remarks at the occasion, the Speaker of the state Assembly, Prince Mathew Kolawole, promised that the Assembly would give the budget accelerated hearing.
