By Correspondent in Minna.
Governor Mohammed Umar Bago of
Niger state.
The Niger State House of Assembly (NSHA) has approved the 2025 budget estimate of N1.558 trillion as presented by Governor Mohammed Umar Bago, just four days after its submission to the legislature.
The approval followed the submission of a detailed report by the eight-member House Committee on Planning and Appropriation, chaired by Hon. Zubairu Ismaila Zana, representing Rafi Constituency. The committee presented its findings during a plenary session on Thursday.
Our correspondent recalls that Governor Bago had on Monday proposed the 2025 appropriation bill with a budget breakdown that includes 13% (N196.34 billion) for recurrent expenditure and 87% (N1.36 trillion) for capital projects, emphasizing significant investment in infrastructure.
The budget marks a 48.32% increase over the N805.6 billion allocated for 2024.
The budget is expected to be funded through various sources, including:
The budget shows statutory allocation: N53.4 billion,Value Added Tax (VAT): N85.3 billion,
Federation Account Allocation (FAAC): N236.9 billion,Internally Generated Revenue (IGR): N63.36 billion Other IGR sources: N186.37 billion and Capital receipts: N933.56 billion.
Despite approving the budget, the appropriation committee made critical adjustments to address gaps in legislative funding.
The committee noted inadequacies in allocations for the legislature’s capital and recurrent expenditures, recommending:
An additional N1.2 billion be reallocated from the special project/stabilization fund, bringing the legislature’s capital expenditure to N3.12 billion.
A transfer of N793.7 million from the state pension and gratuity fund to increase the legislature’s recurrent expenditure to N3.55 billion.
These adjustments revised the total recurrent expenditure to N199.24 billion (personnel cost: N72.28 billion, overhead cost: N53.99 billion, and consolidated revenue: N72.95 billion) and the capital expenditure to N1.36 trillion, spread across administrative, economic, law and justice, and social sectors.
The committee, however, expressed concerns about the delayed submission of the budget, which it said hindered proper scrutiny.
“The executive must ensure future budgets are submitted at least three months before the year-end to allow adequate evaluation,” said Hon. Zana.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
