Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa governors sign budget into law

The governors of Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa have signed the budget for the 2022 fiscal year in their respective states.

While signing a budget of N278.58 billion for Kaduna, Governor Nasir El-Rufai assured residents that the budget would be faithfully implemented to advance public welfare, as well as develop human capital and infrastructure.

The signed budget allocates N184.53 billion to capital expenditure and N94.05 billion to recurrent, a ratio of 66%:37%. The signing ceremony, held at the Government House, was attended by the Speaker of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Yusuf Zailani, and principal officers of the legislature, commissioners, and other aides of the governor.

Governor El-Rufai was pleased that for the seventh consecutive year, Kaduna has continued to sign its appropriation bill into law well ahead of the first day of January.

He attributed the trend to the active collaboration between the House of Assembly and the executive for the benefit of the people of the state.

The governor described the budget as a budget of the people, as well as a budget of sustainable growth, and commended the lawmakers for their thorough work on the draft budget estimates.

In neighbouring Kano, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje signed the 2022 budget of over N212 billion into law during a State Executive Council meeting attended by principal officers in Government House.

He commended the public hearing held in October at the State House of Assembly which allowed for public contributions as it was all-inclusive for participation at all levels.

The governor promised to ensure that capital projects would be completed at the end of his tenure, saying the bill tagged Budget for Consolidation and Prosperity was meant for that purpose.

On his part, Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State signed a budget of over N340 billion into law, a figure less than N17 billion from the initial N340 billion earlier proposed and presented to the State House of Assembly in November.

Speaker of the House, Tasi’u Zango, while presenting the appropriation bill to the governor, explained that the budget witnessed modest adjustment after careful study by the lawmakers.

The capital expenditure now stands at N223 billion, representing 68 per cent while recurrent expenditure is now over N100 billion, representing 30 per cent of the total budget.

Just as his Katsina counterpart, Governor Badaru Abubakar signed a total of N177.7 billion as the budget for Jigawa State for the 2022 fiscal year.

The bill, presented by the Speaker of the House accompanied by some principal officers, has the education and health sectors engulfing almost half of the entire budget. (Channels TV)