Nasarawa Gov Presents N109.8bn 2022 Budget Estimate to Assembly

Igbawase Ukumba in Lafia

Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, yesterday presented a budget estimate of N109.8 billion for the 2022 fiscal year to the state House of Assembly for approval.

This was even as the governor also submitted a list of 15 commissioner nominees to the Assembly for screening and confirmation as members of the State Executive Council.

Sule, while presenting the 2022 budget estimate, tagged: ‘Budget of Sustainable Transformation’, told the lawmakers that the speedy passage of the 2022 budget estimate would enable the state government to execute developmental projects across the state.

The 2022 budget estimate, according to him, showed recurrent expenditure taking N70.8 billion, representing 64.56 percent of the budget’s total size, while the capital expenditure was estimated to receive N38.9 billion, representing 35.44 percent of the budget.

A sectorial breakdown of the budget estimate showed that the education sector got the highest allocation of N31.8 billion, followed by the health sector, N11.8 billion.

The governor, therefore, assured the Assembly of the full implementation of the budget if finally passed into law for the overall development of the
state.

Receiving the state budget estimate from governor, the Assembly Speaker, Ibrahim Balarabe Abdullahi, assured him of speedy passage of the budget estimate.

Similarly, Sule yesterday submitted a list of 15 commissioner nominees to the House of Assembly for screening and confirmation as members of the State Executive Council.

Speaker of the Assembly announced the development after the Assembly Leader, Umar Tanko Tunga, read a letter from the governor during the Assembly proceedings yesterday in Lafia.

The Speaker consequently urged the appointees to submit 25 copies of their Curriculum Vitae (CV) to the Assembly on or before December 14, 2021.

“The WHO and UNICEF recently recommended early initiation of new born babies into breastfeeding, at least within one hour of birth; exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life and an introduction of nutritionally-adequate and safe solid foods after six months of birth, together with continued breast feeding for up to two years of age or beyond.”

On his part, the Minister for Health in his statement during the 2021 breastfeeding week noted that the exclusive breastfeeding rate in Nigeria is as low as 29 percent, indicating that 71 percent of infants in Nigeria do not enjoy the full benefits of breast milk in their formative years.

“Many infants and children do not receive optimal feeding because only 9 percent of organisations in Nigeria have a workplace breastfeeding policy,” he said.