Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello has signed into law N116 billion 2017 appropriation bill of the state. The legislators increased the budget by N8 billion.
The governor had in December last year presented a bill of N107 billion budget proposal to the state House of Assembly for approval.
Presenting the approved copy of the bill for the governor’s assent in Government House Minna, the Speaker of the State of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Ahmed Marafa said the law makers tinkered with the proposed budget and increased it by N8 billion.
Details of the budget approved by the assembly showed that N67 billion was approved for Capital expenditure while te recurrent expenditure is to gulp N48 billion.
The Speaker commended the governor’s foresight in packaging a budget whose capital expenditure profile is higher than the recurrent expenditure.
He noted that the governor has shown that he was committed to actalising the restoration agenda of his administration and pledged the continued support of the legislative arm to the executive, even as he told the governor of the vote of confidence passed on him by the house.
Signing the bill into law, Governor Sani Bello said his findings at the ongoing Mid Term Project Assessment and Meet the People Tour of the local government will form the bedrock of 2018 budget, stressing that henceforth budget preparation will be determined by the needs of te people.
“Our past budget has been copy and paste. Our budget should be what the people want an not what we think they want. Findings from the on going tour will be used to prepare 2018 budget,” Gov. Sani Bello stated.
