Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State has signed into law, the 2022 appropriation act of N154.9 billion as passed by the state House of Assembly.
Speaking shortly after signing the budget, Governor Yahaya attributed the expeditious passage to the harmonious relationship between the executive and the legislature in the state.
He noted that despite the effects of COVID-19, his administration had shown resilience in the implementation of the previous budgets, expressing confidence that the 2022 budget would not be different.
The governor also directed the Ministry of Finance to commence the payment of workers’ salaries, effective Monday, to enable the Christian faithful to celebrate Christmas and New Year with their families.
He added that his administration would fulfill the promise of paying N750million, the remaining balance of N1.5billion gratuity owed to retirees in the state civil service that left service between 2014 and 2015.
The Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Abubakar Mohammed Luggerewo, said the budget was given expeditious passage because of its content, which he noted gave priority to the economic development and welfare of the people.
He said that after a clause-by-clause consideration of the budget, the Assembly was impressed with the appropriation of high percentage ratio to capital expenditure as against recurrent expenditure.
Luggerewo commended the Governor Yahaya administration for concentrating on people-oriented projects, policies and programmes.