70% allocated for capital projects in Borno”s 2016 budget

…Tambuwal presents N174b for Sokoto
…Lalong proposes N154b for Plateau

Capital expenditures have been allocated 70 percent of the total amount budgeted for the 2016 fiscal year in Borno State, Governor Kashim Shettima told the Borno State House of Assembly in Maiduguri yesterday. 
In an address tagged, Budget for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement,  Governor Shettima announced the sum of N155 billion for both capital and recurrent expenditures, out of which capital projects are allocated N103 billion representing more than 70% of the total budget while recurrent gets N51 billion representing about 30%. Both expenditures are expected to be financed from a recurrent revenue of N155 billion, the governor said. 
Education which includes reconstruction of schools got the highest allocation of N27b while the Ministry for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement got N10b for reconstruction of other infrastructure in destroyed communities. Agriculture got N8b, works and transport N16b while healthcare was allocated N10b. About N24 billion was budget for trade and investment, poverty alleviation and women empowerment in different sectoral allocations. 
Governor Shettima announced that the 2016 budget size was less than that of 2015 fiscal year, including the previous year’s supplementary budget, by 29.16%, due to the dwindling revenue from the Federation Account.
“The Borno State 2016 Appropriation Bill is aptly tagged “Budget of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement”. There are extenuating circumstances which prompted us to re-direct the policy decisions of the State Government in 2016 to the issues of rehabilitation and resettlement of the thousands of victims of the insurgency and the reconstruction of infrastructural facilities as well as public and private buildings callously destroyed by the insurgents across the length and breadth of the State,” Shettima said.
In Sokoto State, Governor Aminu Tambuwal yesterday presented a budget estimate  of N174.35 billion for  2016 to the state House of Assembly.
Capital expenditure was allotted N123.8 billion and recurrent expenditure N50.5 billion.
Tambuwal  explained  that  the recurrent expenditure was reduced in order to build up capital which he said would  directly impact on the lives of the people.
He said the policy thrust of the budget is to ensure sustainable development of the state by focusing on the critical sectors of investment in Education, Agriculture, Health, Environment Solid Minerals and Rural Development.
Tambuwal identified the key thrust of the budget to include  sustenance of peace and security in the State, improving the quality of education and healthcare delivery, diversifying the economy by harnessing the agricultural sector and solid minerals deposits; improving the revenue base of the state and plugging all leakages thereby ensuring accountability and transparency in the management of resources.
He said education had the highest sectoral allocation of 29 percent, underscoring his recent policy of declaration of state of emergency in the sector, and that the budget would also fund programmes on poverty reduction to address critical targets of sustainable development  goals  and  achieve the aspirations of the citizenry for a meaningful life.
Presenting his own budget at the Plateau State House of Assembly in Jos yesterday, Governor Simon Bako Lalong said his budget estimate of N154 billion, showed a drop of 28.5% from the 2015 budget.
The governor who told the Assembly that the budget reflects the present realities and the adoption of zero-based budget in line with the Federal Government’s directive, said the Budget of Rescue has a recurrent expenditure of N75 billion representing 48.7% of the total budget, and a capital estimate of N79 billion representing 51.3%.
The budget showed that the works and transport sector receive the highest allocation of N23 billion while education, administration and health care delivery receive N12 billion, N9 billion and N8 billion respectively.