Desmond Mgboh, Kano
The Kano State House of Assembly has given assurance that it would not reverse allocations made to the Education and Health sectors of the state in the 2020 budget.
House Committee Chairman on Appropriation Abba Ibrahim Garko dropped the hint when he received members of the Nutrition Working Group in his office at the Assembly Complex.
The group was on an advocacy visit to the House to impress it on the lawmakers to retain the funds already allocated to child nutrition in the 2020 budget.
Garko, who said that nutrition was under the health sector, assured that ‘the budget line on nutrition would not be touched when the budget gets to the appropriation committee. And even if the budget ministry decided to reduce it, we would reverse that decision.’
He regretted that the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the businesses of government, adding that it had led to a drop in the earnings of the state and a down cut from N206 billion to N 138 billion in the size of the state budget.
Earlier in his remarks, the leader of the group, Abdullahi Zakari, stressed the importance of the state budget allocation to child nutrition, saying the allocation would go a long way to help save the lives of many undernourished children in the state.
He also reminded the lawmaker of his pledge during a workshop held Dutse, Jigawa State, to mobilise his colleagues to reserve a good measure of their constituency projects to addressing issues of child nutrition in the state.
He appealed to him to exercise their oversight functions as a committee and ensure the immediate release of the allocation meant for nutrition in the previous budget.
Last week, the Kano State Executive Council had endorsed the downward review of the 2020 state budget by 30 per cent.
