By Noah Ocheni, Lokoja
Kogi state Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello on Tuesday in Lokoja presented the 2021 Draft Budget Estimate of #130.5 billion to the state House of Assembly for deliberations.
The Kogi budget which was tagged, “Budget of Accelerated Recovery” has a total budget package of #130,546,068,026 billion for the year 2021 as against #122,970,958,009 of the amended budget for year 2020 which represent #7,575,110,017 billion higher than that of 2020 budget.
In summary, the Draft Revenue budget according to the governor “has an estimated outlay of #130,546,068,026. which is divided into recurrent revenue of #82, 464,412,854 representing 63.17 percent and capital receipts of #48,081,655,172 representing #36.83 percent respectively.”
“The Draft expenditure budget has an estimated outlay of #130,546,068,026 is divided into recurrent expenditure of #74,047,160,482 representing 56.72 percent and capital expenditure of #56,498,907,544 representing 43.28 percent” he added.
The specific fiscal objectives of the budget, according to Governor Yahaya Bello are: “to improve the quality and affordability of education available to citizens at all levels in order to produce the articulate and skilled manpower required for economic transformation of the State.”
“To improve quality and access to healthcare leading to improvement in efficiency of healthcare delivery system and ensuring food security and generate a high proportion of the GDP from agriculture.”
He pointed out that the proposed 2021 Budget is clearly indicative of fair, sincere and Frank assessment of the amount the state can generate on its own, in addition to what it is projected to receive from the federation account and other sources.
Governor Bello, however, “commended the house for approving the reversed 2020-2022 Medium Term Expenditure Frameworks, Fiscal strategy paper and the passage of the reversed 2020 appropriations bill into law in record time to ameliorate disruption from the Covid-19 pandemic to our fiscal positions.”
He said he has crafted the 2021 budget for capture only realisable revenue, enhance internally generated revenue (IGR), aggressive pursue repayment of debt owed us by the federal government, reduce significantly the cost of governance and provide more justification for our development partners across the world to Contribute to the state economy.
“Apart from making our mark on the national scene and winning keenly contested financial prizes, we have also developed the Kogi State Covid-19 Action Recovery and economic stimulus (CARES) Programme to support our home economy through these trying times.”
Earlier the speaker, Kogi state House of Assembly, Prince Matthew Kolawole assured the governor of accelerated deliberations and early passage of the bill so as to achieve the objectives of the socio economic development of the state.
