Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe state has presented N119,663,856,636.00 appropriation Bill for 2021 to members of the state House of Assembly during plenary on Thursday in Gombe.
In his remarks, Yahaya informed the lawmakers that his administration intended to spend over N57.6billion for recurrent expenditure representing 48.2 per cent of the proposed budget.
According to him, the budget which is tagged “Budget of resilience’’ has N62billion as the capital budget representing 51.8 per cent of the budget.
He stated that the budget was expected to be financed with estimated recurrent revenue of N75.29billion and capital receipts of N62.46billion.
He stated that the 2021 budget was prepared with “the useful inputs gathered from the people of Gombe state, the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the 10-year development plan (2020 – 2030).’’
According to the governor, the focus of his administration in the 2021 fiscal year amongst others were expected to deepen the provision of physical infrastructure and investing in human capital development.
“Enhancing investment in education, strengthening and implementing social protection policies for vulnerable groups, poverty reduction and job creation for our youth, promoting development partnership and trust.
“Strengthening our healthcare system through renovation, remodeling, construction and equipping of our healthcare facilities, the provision of skilled human resources and the implementation of universal health coverage through the recently established state health insurance agency.
“Solidifying our investment in agriculture, strengthening our rural and urban transformation initiatives; promoting the ease of doing business, amongst others,” he said.
On the performance of the 2020 budget, Yahaya stated that “the total budget performance as at October 31, 2020 was 62.01 per cent.
In his response, the Speaker of the House, Abubakar Luggerewo, assured the governor that the lawmakers would work towards the speedy passage of the budget to ensure the people of Gombe enjoy the dividends of democracy.
