Sokoto State Governor Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto on Friday presented a 2024 budget of over N270 billion to the State House of Assembly for consideration.
The governor said the proposed 2024 budget is tagged, “Budget of hope and resilience” with infrastructural development in the sum of N270,134,091,757:01 Kobo only.
“Of the proposed revenues, statutory allocation coming from the federation account is estimated for N138,929,550,974:00 naira only. Internally generated payments are calculated in the sum of N37,085,037,053:63 Kobo only. This makes the total revenue stand at N176,014,588,027:63 Kobo.
“Our opening balance is 13,310,358,374,60k, capital receipts aids and grants is 14,396,222,781:12k. Capital development funds also stand at 60,379,186,380:00 making a total amount of 74,775,409,168:12 kobo.
According to the governor, the recurrent expenditure accounted for N90,640,286,421:53 Kobo only, adding that the recurrent expenditure was broken down to personnel costs, N46,923,537,990:52 Kobo only, while overhead expenses stood at N50,938,232,612:65 Kobo.
“Capital estimates, N172,238,584,960:27 kobo with the total expenditure stands at N270,100,355,563:35 Kobo.
He sought the cooperation of the lawmakers to do a good and thorough job on the budget and ensure speedy passage to enable its implementation by January 2024, adding that the budget this year is a reflection of the views of the masses across the state, with the point based on his administration of a nine-point agenda.
Further breakdown of the budget showed that Education got the highest votes in the budget with an allocation of N42,868,402,566:5 kobo. This is followed by the Health sector with N31,014,441, 399:19 kobo.
The Agriculture sector also gets 10,252,388,581:62 kobo, which includes the procurement of assorted grains to the people of the state as well as procurement of fertilizer and farm input, with the Ministry of Works and Transportation getting the sum of N18,807,208,595:17 Kobo.
The government also allocated the sum of N9,907,759,878:33 Kobo for the Ministry of Religious Affairs, while water resources got 9,243,892,234:54 kobo.
He said his administration has also made adequate provisions in the budget for humanitarian services, poverty reduction, and women and youth empowerment programmes, among others.
He commended the development partners and the civil servants for their input in the preparation of the 2024 budget as well as the subsequent implementation of the policies and programs in the coming year.
The Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Tukur Bala, promised that the lawmakers will get to work on the budget to encourage the governor to achieve his nine-point agenda.
