Laleye Dipo in Minna
The Niger State House of Assembly has passed the 2023 Appropriation Bill of N243 billion after increasing the budgetary proposal that was presented to it by Governor Abubakar Sani Bello by N5billion.
The passage of the bill on Wednesday followed the submission and adoption of the report of the Chairman of the Appropriation Committee, Mr. Bashir Lokogoma.
The 2023 budget is made up of N152 billion for capital expenditure and N91 billion for recurrent expenditure.
Lokogoma while presenting the committees reported noted that the budget structure as presented to the House “is complicated and has made it difficult to trace a particular capital allocation for scrutiny.” But he did not mention the allocation.
He said that the passage of the budget is “very important and essential for the take-off of a new financial year,” and would enable the executive to hit the ground running.
The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Abdullahi Bawa Wuse directed the Clerk to prepare a clean copy of the Appropriation Act for the executive to assent to.
Wuse, however, urged the executive arm to always ensure that budget is laid before the legislature at least three months before the end of the year for proper scrutiny.
The Niger State Governor, Mr. Abubakar Sani Bello, who presented the budget proposal before the State House of Assembly on November 2, said that the budget would be financed by releases from the Statutory Allocation projected to be N61,094,737,097.00 representing 25.57 per cent; Value Added Tax (VAT) N35,616,260,802.00 or 14.90 per cent; Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) N22,519,483,986.00 or 9.43 per cent Excess Crude/Other Revenues N4,257,726,144 or 1.78 percent, and capital receipts N115,436,249,753.47 or 48.30.
