With less than a month to the exit of his administration from the Government House in Lokoja, Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State, on Tuesday, presented an Appropriation Bill of N75 billion for the 2016 fiscal year.
Wada presented the bill, christened: ”Budget of Consolidation” to the House of Assembly for consideration and approval.
Only 10 members, including the Speaker, Alhaji Momoh-Jimoh Lawal, out of 25 members, were present during the exercise.
The governor said the budget was 15.3 per cent or N13.6 billion lower than that of 2015.
He said it was his belief that the proposed 2016 Budget was clearly indicative of his fair, sincere and frank assessment resources accruing to the state.
“The total budget package for year 2016 is N74, 996, 241, 381 as against N88, 617, 070, 854 billion approved for year 2015 which is a decrease of N13.6 billion or 15.37 per cent compared to the 2015 Revised Budget,” he said.
Wada said the budget had Recurrent Expenditure of 45.3 billion, representing 60.4 per cent and Capital Expenditure of N29.6 billion,representing 39.5 percent.
According to him, the budget is drafted in line with international best practices.
Wada said that the specific objective of the budget was to allow for effective allocation of scarce resources.
“Also, to identify critical programmes and projects including completion of on-going projects and new ones in the critical areas of need.
Other objectives, according to the governor, include to expand the revenue base in the area of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
”To produce a conducive environment for investors and donor agencies to operate and as well, to reduce the level of domestic debt profile of the state.”
Wada commended the state Ministry of Budget and Planning for complying with the directive to the 21 local government areas to align their Accounting and Budget formats with Chart of Account of International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS).
He said with the format, the accounting/budget of the state and the local government would be consolidated in the near future.
The governor said that the state expected recurrent revenue of N49.4 billion, consisting of N7.8 billion from internal sources; N33.7billion federal allocation to the state and N7.9 billion revenue from Value Added Tax (VAT).
Wada said he did not make allowance for Sure-P and Excess Crude because those revenue components were not being expected to feature in 2016 fiscal year in view of the dwindling price of crude oil.
Earlier, the Speaker, Lawal commended the governor for the way he had judiciously managed the resources of the state, assuring that the house would speedily pass the budget.
Lawal expressed happiness over the robust working relationship between the legislature and the executive, adding that it would be sustained in the years ahead.
