24th December, 2018
Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno on Monday presented a N125.82 billion appropriation bill for the 2019 fiscal year to the State House of Assembly for approval.
The bill tagged: “Budget of Consolidation” was higher than the 2018 approved budget, with over 30 per cent increase.
Shettima disclosed that N61 billion of the total budget was allocated for capital projects and N63 billion for recurrent expenditure.
He explained that the increased allocation for recurrent expenditure was for the projects initiated in 2018 that were at various stages of completion and to facilitate payment of pension arrears.
Shettima revealed that the budget would be financed with projected N17 billion Internally Generated Revenue (IGR); N86 billion statutory allocations and N21 billion capital receipt.
He added that education got the highest allocation of N22 billion for recurrent and capital projects, which included N9 billion for completion of various school development projects and N8 billion for higher education.
He said that N2 billion was earmarked for Universal Basic Education (UBE) programmes, to facilitate procurement of instructional materials and furniture, while another N2 billion was allocated for the 44 Mega School projects.
Other highlights of the budget included the allocation N15.16 billion for the health sector, to fast track completion of various health facility projects, provisions of medical equipment, drugs and recruitment of personnel.
Agriculture was allocated N3.9 billion for completion of irrigation projects, farmer support services and procurement of farm inputs.
Over N4 billion was allocated for the Ministry of Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Resettlement to facilitate resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in liberated communities.
Shettima added that the Ministry of Works got N7 billion for completion of road, landscaping and street lightening projects in Maiduguri, Damboa, Jere and Gamboro-Ngala local government areas among others.
The sum of N3.14 billion was earmarked for the Borno Road Maintenance Agency (BORMA); N5.36 billion for Water Resources, while Animal and Fishery Development got N2.01 billion, Land and Survey N1.3 billion, and Environment N3.4 billion.
Shettima said that the sum of N1.8 billion was provided for poverty alleviation programme to accelerate livelihood and empowerment support services to women and youths affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.
He announced the allocation of N1.7 billion to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and another N4.9 billion for the Teacher Service Board (TSB), noting that the amount were provided to enhance integration of Tsangaya School, establishment of vocational training centres for the Tsangaya schools and recruitment of 1,000 graduate teachers under the TSB.
The governor added that N3.98 billion was earmarked for the Ministry of Housing and Energy and another N1.64 for the Ministry of Home Affairs, Information and Culture.
He further disclosed that over N18 billion was allocated to the Governor’s Office to facilitate implementation of various projects under the office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) and Head of Service (HoS).
Breaking down the figures, Shettima explained that N11 billion of the amount was provided for the Mega School projects, procurement of instructional materials, furniture, beddings and feeding in the schools.
Shettima added that N1.8 billion was earmarked for the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and procurement of security kits; over N1 billion for the completion of Borno House in Abuja, N500 million for remuneration of political aids and N100 million for the payment of allowances to the NYSC members.
According to him, over N3.3 billion was allocated to the State House of Assembly and N1.4 billion for the Ministry of Justice.
While commending the legislators over their support to his administration, Shettima urged them to expedite action on the bill, to fast track social and economic development of the state.
Also, the Speaker, Alhaji Abdulkareem Lawan, lauded the governor over the feat achieved in social and economic transformation despite the security challenges facing the state.
Lawan noted that the state government had recorded significant successes in budget implementation and execution of viable projects for the overall well being of the people.
He assured that the legislators would accord the bill speedy passage to ensure sustainability of the development projects implemented in the previous budgets.