From Paul Orude, Bauchi
The Bauchi State executive council has approved the 2022 proposed budget, after hours of deliberations by the council.
The meeting was chaired by Governor, Bala Mohammed.
Breifing journalists on the outcome of the council’s deliberations, the commissioner for finance, Aminu Hammayo, said that the budget would be presented to the state House of Assembly for its approval soon
Hammayo for the 2022 proposed budgt, the government adopted strong measures to curtail some non-critical expenditure.
“We deliberately did this as part of our efforts to tackle borrowing,” he said.
“Suggestions for improvement on what we presented were received and the most important thing is that external and internal grants were also considered in the expenditure proposals,” the commissioner said.
The focus of the present administration was on critical areas in the social sector comprising health, education, agriculture, youth and women empowerment, e disclosed.
Earlier, Governor Mohammed, at the commencement of the meeting, stated the 2022 proposed budget had captured ongoing and abandoned projects.
“We have captured all the abandoned projects of the previous administration to ensure completion and utilization,” he said.
Mohammed explained that the proposed 2022 budget was a ‘budget of consolidation’ on the administration’s projects aimed at repositioning the state.
“Under our Bauchi renewal programme most of our projects had either been completed or have reached 50 per cent completion stage,” he assured.
“Our 2022 proposed budget is a budget of consolidation on the projects of my administration aimed at repositioning the state in the name of Bauchi renewal, most of our projects are either completed or 50 percent completion in works, housing, transport, education, agriculture and health sectors.
“We are always guided by the global best practice where we try as much as possible for our capital allocation to be higher than the normal statutory allocation in the area of overhead and I appreciate council members for their sacrifice which enable us to change the narration in governance in Bauchi through leaving legacies and landmarks of achievements”