Linus Oota, Lafia
Nasarawa Governor, Abdullahi Sule, yesterday, signed into law the 2020 appropriation bill.
He said the House of Assembly jerked up the 2020 budget from N100.5 billion to N108 billion (a 7.5 per cent increase) to accommodate other expenses like the N5.6 billion counterpart funds obtained from Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) for the construction and renovation of schools.
He said with the signing of the bill into law, work had begun urged workers to consider the budget as a balance sheet which they must work hard to balance. He said the state would strive to generate enough funds internally to enable it fund the budget.
“When I first saw the budget, I would have done exactly what President Buhari would have done, just push the budget aside and said they have changed the figures and I am not going to sign. But then we went through it, negotiated and explained details of every aspect of it
“The bottom line is we have to try as much as possible to ensure that we generate what we can spend. Because if we are not able to generate, which it means is that we cannot spend. And the work is for every one of us. We shall work together as a team,” he said.
While presenting the budget document before the Governor, Speaker Ibrahim Balarabe expressed the delight that the event would mark the first time since 2015 that the appropriation bill would be passed into law within the year.
“We enjoin this administration to maintain that spirit for the early implementation of this budget, for the interest of our people and indeed the state,” the Speaker said.
Balarabe also expressed his appreciation to ministries, agencies and parastatals for the prompt defence of their budget saying they made it easy for the various committees of the House to complete their assignment on time.