By Ibrahim Oyewale
Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has presented the sum of N130, 546,068,026 Appropriation Bill for 2021 fiscal year to the state House Assembly for consideration and subsequent approval.
While presenting the bill to the House of Assembly yesterday, Bello stated that the balanced budget is titled: ‘Budget of Accelerated Recovery 2021’.
He explained that the total outlay of N130,564,068,026 is divided into recurrent revenue of 82,464,412,854 representing 63.17 per cent, and capital receipts of N48,081,655,172 representing 36.83 per cent.
The governor who highlighted further that the expenditure of the draft budget has an outlay of N130, 546,068,026 also divided into recurrent expenditure of 74,047,160,582 representing 56.72 percent and capital receipts expenditure of 56,498,907,544 representing 43.28 percent.
The governor noted that the total budget package for 2021 is N130, 546,068,026 as against N122, 970, 958, 009 for the 2020 amended budget, stressing that this represents an increase of N7, 575,1 10,017 .
Bello said the presentation is part of ongoing efforts by his administration to improve the quality and timeliness of the budget processing, stating that the administration has worked hard to ensure early submission of 2021-2023 medium term expenditure frameworks and fiscal strategy paper as well as the 2021 Appropriation Bill.
He added that with the current situation as a country, all leaders should rethink the basic positions of their relationship with the citizens, adding that while leaders continue to carry on in the belief that they are doing their best, or that citizens should be glad for whatever they can get given the various challenges of leadership, the citizens are becoming increasingly frustrated with a polity that is no longer meeting their basic yearnings and aspirations.
“The truth is that leaders have a social contract with the led that is in most respects akin to a marriage. It is not enough for one partner to believe that he or she is doing their best if the other wets their bed every night with tears and recriminations from an unending barrage of painful experiences and deprivations.
“Recent upheavals in the country, including the lamentable fallouts of the #EndSARS protests, should tell us that our best intentions as leaders will come to naught if we do not immediately discover ‘magically’ if there is no other way to it on how to resolve issues of human rights, internal security, food security and economic empowerment. .
“We have tried to craft a budget for next year with which we will urgently begin to address these pressing issues at state level while we hope that similar urgencies will be activated at all other levels across the country,” he stated.
While speaking, the Speaker of the state Assembly, Hon Mattew Kolawole, assured the state governor that the legislature would continue to support the executive arm of government to improve on the economy of the state.
Kolawole also appealed to the governor to as a matter urgency signed all the bills pending, particularly the financial autonomy for the lawmakers in the state.
