It has become a tradition across the world that at the end of every fiscal year, governments and even non-governmental organisations prepare budget estimates envisioning expected accrues for the incoming year, ways to generate such funds, sectoral and ministerial allocations and subsequent presentation to the National, State Houses of Assembly or board of directors as the case may be.
In Gombe State, the presentation of the 2021 Appropriation bill to the State House of Assembly by Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya on December 3, ignites yet another hope of a sustained socio-economic and infrastructural development of the state especially at a time when the world and in particular, Gombe State is gradually emerging from social and economic setbacks occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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This hope for a better and prosperous Gombe State was demonstrated by Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya in the 2020 budget despite the outbreak of the pandemic, which led to the fall in global oil prices causing undue pressure on the administration’s ability to meet the developmental needs of the people as earlier projected.
However, the 2020 budget’s disruptions three months into its implementation leading to its downward review from N130 billion to N107 billion, did not in anyway deter the commitment of the state government to provide the much needed dividends of democracy to the people.
But going forward, economic watchers and analysts say the 2021 Appropriation bill of N119.6 billion presented to the Gombe State House of Assembly, for consideration and subsequent passage into law, indicates a paradigm shift from years of recurrent-centred budget to capital based budget especially when taking into account sectoral allocations contained in the budget estimate.
For instance the 2021 Gombe State budget estimate allocated N53,635,301,000 00 as recurrent expenditure representing 48.2 percent of the budget estimate and N62,028,555 000 00 as capital expenditure representing 51.8 percent of the total budget.
This glaring and undisputed gap between the recurrent and capital expenditure is consequent upon the enormous developmental challenges confronting the state in virtually all sectors, which range from the economic, social, general administration, as well as law and justice. Little wonder that Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya had while presenting the 2021 appropriations bill to the lawmakers said that the focus of his administration in 2021 fiscal year would be but not limited to the following areas: Physical infrastructure, human capital development, education, strengthening and implementing social protection policies for vulnerable groups, poverty reduction and job creation, especially for the youth.
Other areas enumerated by the governor include partnership trust, strengthening the health care system through renovation, remodeling, construction and equipping of health facilities, provision of skilled human resources and the implementation of the Universal Health Coverage through the recently established State Health Insurance Agency.
Agricultural development, rural and urban transformation initiatives, promoting the ease of doing business, enhance internal revenue generation, entrenching fiscal responsibility and transparency, security and addressing environmental challenges are some other priority areas contain in the budget estimate.
These areas of concern by the present administration of Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya are by no less a comprehensive coverage of a holistic physical and human capital development of the state. This was perhaps the more reason why the sectoral allocations in the 2021 budget estimate leaves no one in doubt of the political will and sheer determination of the governor to transform the state and make it a model.
A classical pointer to this sheer political commitment to fulfilling promises made to the people during electioneering campaigns is the allocation of a whopping N12.890 billion for works and infrastructure sector to bring to fruition the flagship project, Network Eleven-Hundred, which seeks to build at least one hundred kilometres of roads in each of the eleven local government areas of the state.
Other sectors, which got priority attention in the 2021 budget include water resources, housing and urban development, environment and forestry, education, health, science and technology, youth and sports, information and culture, general administration, as well as women affairs among others.
Each of these sectors got its budgetary allocation depending on priority needs of the sector and expected deliverables to the welfare and wellbeing of the people of the state.
Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya while presenting the 2021 Appropriation bill to the State House of Assembly said “the challenging experiences we went through in the 2020 fiscal year will be used to sharpen our vision for the 2021 fiscal year and beyond. As we are all aware, the art of nation building is a collective responsibility … I, therefore, urge all of us to re-dedicate ourselves to the service of Gombe State as nobody will come and develop the state for us other than ourselves”.
Unlike other budgets, which were unilaterally formulated, the governor said “in coming up with this budget, we have set up various consultative processes involving various stakeholders. The 2021 budget was, therefore, prepared with the useful inputs gathered from the people of the state, the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the state’s 10-year Development Plan”.
These words of optimism and resilience by Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya no doubt strike an unquenchable spirit of patriotism and a burning desire to leave Gombe better than he met it and to inspire hope in the minds of the people for a better tomorrow.
Bayambe wrote from Tumfure, Gombe state.
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