From John Adams, Minna
Worried by the rising level of insecurity that has bedeviled the state in the last six years, the Niger state government says the main focus of this year’s budget will be to tackle the security challenges in the state, saying that no development can be achieved if the security challenge is not addressed.
The current security challenge, the government disclosed, greatly affected the full implement of the2021 budget, even though 60 percent level of implementation was achieved.
The state Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Abubakar Zakari who stated this while giving the breakdown of the 2022 budget in Minna on Monday, pointed out that the chunk of money meant for capital project in the 2021 budget was channeled to fighting Insecurity in parts of the state, adding that the government will still step up the fight against the criminal elements that have made lives difficult for the people of the state.
Zakari who is also overseeing Commissioner for planning, however said the fighting Insecurity can not be achieve if the roads are bad, and to this end, the government has captured 10 critical roads across the state in the 2022 budget which will cost the government well over N38.5 billion, in addition to completing the ongoing ones.
According to him, if the government must fight Insecurity, then roads becomes a priority, adding that “you can not fight Insecurity without good roads network”.
Zakari disclosed that the 2022 budget will largely be financed through the federation Account which is expected to contribute about N80.2billion Naira of the N198.3billion total budget estimate.
These he said include Federation Account (FAAC), N54.2billion, Value Added Tax (VAT) N20.7billion, Access Crude/other Revenue, N4.9billion, adding that Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is expected to contribute about N17billion to fund the budget.
In order to ensure the execution of all the roads projects in 2022, the government is expecting about N100.4billion from the capital receipt to enable it fund those critical roads and other infrastructural projects.
He however disclosed that the current debt profile of the State both local and foreign debts, though stood at N89billion with over 50 percent of it inherited from previous administrations, he assured that “it is still sustainable”.
To this end, the State government earmarked the sum N6.46billion for debt servicing in the proposed budget estimate for 2022.
Zakari disclosed further that aside strengthening the security mechanism, other focus of the budget will include, completing all critical ongoing projects that have direct bearing on the welfare of the people, increase investment in the productive capacity of the state economy, especially agriculture, education and transportation, among others.