Nasir el-Rufai
The Kaduna State Government is proposing to spend N237 billion in 2021, out of which N157.56 billion is for capital projects and N79.96 billion for recurrent expenditure.
The Commissioner for Planning and Budget, Mr Thomas Gyang, made this known at a town hall meeting on Saturday in Kaduna.
He said that the estimate was presented to the people so as “to obtain views, comments and input from the public before the draft budget estimates are transmitted to the Kaduna State House of Assembly.”
The commissioner disclosed that the draft 2021 budget took into account the economic impact of COVID-19 and the continuing uncertainty it has unleashed.
Gyang stated that the draft budget prioritised capital spending, with capital to recurrent ratio of 66:34 percent.
He added that priority was given to Education, Health and Infrastructure.
According to him, N124 billion, almost 79% of the capital budget of N157.56bn, is allocated to the Economic and Social sectors.
The commissioner added that of the N62.2 billion devoted to capital projects under the Social Sector, N38 billion was for Education and N22.6bn for the Health sector.
He said that in the Economic sector capital allocation of N62.13 billion, Infrastructure was allocated N37.4 billion; Agriculture, N10 billion; Business, Innovation and Technology, N5.6 billion, and N8.6 billion for Housing and Urban Development.
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Gyang reiterated that the focus of the government since 2015 had been on governance reform, education, health and infrastructure.
In her remarks, the Deputy Governor, Dr Hadiza Balarabe explained that the budget priorities reflected the state government agenda of ‘Putting People First’.
“Education and Health are the principal components of human capital development, while investments in infrastructure are critical to maintaining our competitiveness, supporting economic dynamism, creating jobs and promoting the well-being of our people,’’ she said.
The deputy governor assured that comments and inputs from the town hall meeting will be considered before presenting the budget to the State Assembly for approval.
NAN
