NAN-HE-19
Budget
By Zubairu Idris
Katsina, Feb. 22, 2017(NAN) Gov. Aminu Masari of Katsina State on Wednesday signed the state 2017 budget of N140.1 billion into law.
Speaking after signing the bill into law, Masari said education, health, water supply, security and agriculture would receive the lion share in the budget.
He said that the government had accepted all the adjustments made by the State House of Assembly in the budget, saying that the Legislature operated within the estimates presented to it.
Masari noted that the lawmakers had the right to make the adjustments as the people’s representatives.
“Budget is a statement of intention and as such, the members have the mandate to make corrections that will improve the standard of living of people in the state,’’ he said.
According to him, the projected revenue of the 2017 budget stood at only 68 per cent.
He called on the members of the house to monitor the budget execution to improve the living condition of the people.
Earlier, the Speaker of the House, Alhaji Abubakar Yahya, said the capital expenditure in the budget was slashed from N96.3 billion to N92.5 billion, while the recurrent expenditure was increased from N43.8 billion to N47.7 billion.
Yahya said N20 billion was refunded to the state from the Paris Club, making the house to push for completion of road projects abandoned by the last administration. (NAN)
ZI/SUD/JEY/AMY
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Edited by Johnson Eyiangho/Abdullahi Yusuf