From Agaju Madugba, Katsina
Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari has proposed a total of N340,951,912,557.00 budget for 2022 to finance government projects.
Laying the budget on the floor of the House of Assembly on Wednesday, Governor Masari noted that the figure is higher than the 2021 budget by N48,064,131,214.00.
Tagged, “Budget of Economic Resilience,” the governor said that the total amount projected to finance the 2022 Budget was N175,105,396,188.00 which comprises of N61,664,771,966.00 as Internally Generated Revenues.
According to him, ‘the revenue receivable through the Federation Account is estimated at the sum of N100,940,624,222.00 with an opening balance of N12,500,000,000.00.’
Under sectoral allocations, Water Resources got the lion’s share of the budget with N41,038,773,669.00 representing 17.23 per cent while Health received N30,618,448,342.00 (12.86%) and Education got N29,476,864,246.00 (12.38℅).
According to the governor, ‘as we are all aware, implementation of the 2021 budget has been largely affected by the security challenges across the state.
‘Funds that were supposed to be utilised by the state government to execute meaningful projects and programmes were committed in funding security operations in the state.
‘That notwithstanding, the state government has recorded progress in funding the on-going projects and during the period under review, the security sub-sector has witnessed two major remarkable achievements in the state.
‘The establishment of three-tier security structures of the local governments and the engagement of community leaders and traditional rulers in security management and the signing of the Security Challenges (Containment) Executive Order in the state.
‘Government observed that the 1976 Local Government Reforms which removed the powers of traditional rulers had created serious gap without offering veritable replacement. Given the myriad of today’s security challenges and coupled with clamour across the entire nation on community policing initiative, the present administration considered it imperative to revisit the system and bring on board the traditional institutions and other relevant stakeholders to participate directly in security decision and management, the governor stated.