From John Adams, Minna
Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello has presented a budget estimate of N198.3 billion to the State House of Assembly for consideration for the 2022 fiscal year.
This is made up of N74,157,95,942.06 recurrent expenditure, representing 37.41 per cent of the total budget, an increase of 1.07 per cent or N1, 574,764,111.18 compared to the 2021 original budget of N72,583,201,830.88.
Capital expenditure is to gulp N122,991,632,217.71, representing 62.56 per cent of the total budget, witnessing an increase of N43, 258,268,872.10 or 21.11 per cent compared to capital expenditure of N80,829,419,945.59 of 2021.
According to the governor, the capital expenditures will mainly be funded from two main sources which,
Transfer from the Consolidated Revenue Fund Surplus amounting to N23,678,871,472.46, Capital Receipts (Draw Downs) made up of internal and external loans, grants from Development Partners amounting to N100,408,817,345.23
This year’s budget which the governor tagged tagged “Budget of Prosperity and Sustainable Development” witnessed an increase of 12.75% or N44, 830,032,983.28 compared to the 2021 budget of N153.4 billion.
Presenting the budget before the State House of Assembly on Thursday, Governor Bello pointed out that in 2022, they shall strive to consolidate on the gains of the previous years, complete ongoing projects and propel the economy on the sustained growth and prosperity for the people of the state within the available resources.
He also disclosed that the security challenges which has bedevilled the state greatly affected the ability of the government to deliver on its projected capital expenditures in the 2021 budget, even though he maintained that the government has made some remarkable gains and improvements of the quality of the lives of the people.
In preparing the 2022 budget, however, he said the government has kept in mind the following objectives:
Amelioration of insecurity; Completion of on-going projects that attained appreciable level and have a direct impact on the welfare of the people; Prudent management of available resources; Diversification of internal revenue sources and improvement of collection machinery; Increase investment in the productive capacity of the state economy particularly agriculture, infrastructure, education, health, transportation; and Care for the Vulnerable.
Overall, he disclosed the budget will be financed through Statutory Allocation of N54,282,412,426.00 (27.39%); Value Added Tax of N20,792,440,780.00 (10.49%); Internally Generated Revenue of N17,190,944,156.00 (8.68%); Excess Crude/Other Revenue of N4,870,724,375.00 (2.44%); Dividend from North South Power, N500,000,000.00 (0.24%), N200,315,677.00 (0.11%), refund from Federal Roads and Capital Receipts (Draw Downs) of N100,408,817,345.23, representing 50.65 percent.
He maintained that despite the security challenges confronting the state ‘our government has invested so much in the wake of persistent security challenges in the provision of security equipment, and management of security architecture in the state.’
This, he stated, further affected the ability to deliver on our projected capital expenditures in 2021. He nonetheless assured the people of the government commitment to the return of peace and normalcy in the affected communities in no distant time.
‘To our development partners and investors, we appreciate your unflinching support and commitment during these trying times. Government will not relent on its onus to secure every part of the state,’ the governor stated.