By Correspondent in Minna.
Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger state has presented N238, 924, 457, 782.47, 2023 Appropriation Bill to the State House of Assembly for delibration and passage.
Presenting the budget tagged, ‘Budget of Consolidation and Transition’, to the legislature, the governor said his last budget to be presented before the state Assembly was designed to consolidate achievements he had so far made with a to leaving the state better than he met it.
According to Bello,he expects that whoever is taking over from him to explore derivable opportunities, especially in agriculture, tourism, and mineral resources towards boosting the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
Sani Bello, who is the Chairman, North-Central States Governor’s Forum (NCSGF) said the 2023 budget, which is about 2, 96 per cent higher than the 2022 appropriation was made up of; N91,044,745,351.31 or 38.11% Recurrent Expenditure while N147,879,712,431.16 or 61.89% is proposed for Capital Expenditure.
Governor Bello said the budget is expected to be financed by the Statutory Allocation= N61,094,737,097.00 representing 25.57%; Value Added Tax (VAT) = N35,616,260,802.00 or 14.90%; IGR = N22,519,483,986.00 or 9.43%; Excess Crude/other Revenue =N4,257,726,144 or 1.78% and Capital Receipts = N115,436,249,753.47 or 48.30%.
The Governor who expressed conviction that Niger state is well endowed and well positioned to be better than what it is today in the nearest future, however, emphasized the need for his successor to look inwards on how to grow the state’s economy by reviewing its internally generated revenue,IGR.
With the achievements so far recorded by his administration in the past seven years, Sani Bello said before his handing over, attention would be given to infrastructural development to attract private sector investments to enhance earnings.
Consequently, Economic Sector has the highest estimate of; N98, 786,069,351.92 or 66.80% of the capital expenditure, while the sum of, N38,442,105,896.73 (26.00%) is being set aside for Social Sector and Administrative Sector is a total of, N9,326,537,182.51 or 6.30%.
To ensure quick dispensation of justice and related areas, Governor Bello said the sum of N1,325,000,000.00 representing 0.90% is budgeted for the Judiciary or the Law and Justice Sector while not leaving out other sectors of the economy.
He also promised to within the remaining months in the life of the administration, to continue to support farmers to boost agricultural production by reviewing the sector’s obvious, strategic importance as the major occupation taking advantage of the state’s teeming population and verse land to its advantage.
Other area the state is hoping to explore in actualizing robust economy, according to Governor Sani Bello, is the area of Tourism and Culture which the state is well endowed with many natural tourist sites across the three senatorial zones.
“We will intensify effort towards completing the Bobi Grazing Reserve in zone C (Niger-North) senatorial district and as well revamp other potential revenue sources while the state government will also continue to solicit the support of appropriate federal government agencies and private investors to develop our tourism potentials”.
As part of diversification of its economy to abounding natural resources, Governor Bello told the legislature, “We will also encourage solid minerals development in order to diversify the state’s economy”.
In addition, the incoming government, he said will in the 2023 fiscal year prioritize completion of the numerous road projects that have attained 80 to 90 percent completion level as well as conclude those already initiated and called on contractors handling the various projects to get back to sites immediately and act accordingly.
While appreciating the Legislature, the Judiciary for the support and as well Nigerlites for the support and cooperation accorded him, Bello said the achievements recorded by the administration under him couldn’t have been possible without collectively contributing towards improving the living conditions of the entire citizenry.
Responding, the Speaker, Niger State House of Assembly, Hon. Abdullahi Bawa Wuse commended Governor Bello and the entire cabinet for the presentation of the 2023 Budget Estimate and assured of commitment towards quick perusal and passage of the appropriation bill.
With the urgent need to diversify the state economy for improved IGR, the Speaker assured of the legislature’s preparedness to collectively work with the executive and other relevant agencies to vigorously improve on the state’s IGR for the betterment of all citizens.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
