Governor Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State has assented to the State’s 2015 Finance and Appropriation Bill.
Assenting the 2015 budget Wednesday at the Government House, Damaturu, the governor said that the N80.6 billion budget with a reduction in recurrent expenditure of N815 million, was, however, the most realistic and people-oriented budget, because of the present economic situation and challenges of financing the budget.
His words: “It is clear that the present economic situation poses serious challenges to us. Despite these challenges, I wish to assure this gathering that Government shall continue to be accountable, prudent, and transparent in spending public funds to meet its obligations of providing social services to the citizens.
“In order to achieve this objective, we must be ready to make some sacrifice and consider ourselves as stakeholders in the development of the state. Let me assure you all that this occasion is not a mere signing of a document.”
Gaidam also insisted that: “We will conduct government business strictly within the appropriation law with a view to achieving the objectives of improving the quality of life of the people.”
On how to finance and implement the budget, he said: “As a way out of our predicaments, we must intensify our internal revenue generation (IGR) drive through effective revenue collection and ensure that leakages are blocked and all revenues generated are remitted into Government accounts.
“Accordingly, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) must also avoid incurring unnecessary expenditures or liabilities.”
He, therefore, called on the entire people of the state to continue to rally round his administration to enable it fully implement policies and programmes that could impact positively on people’s lives.
He also directed the office of the Secretary to the State Government and the Ministry of Budget and Planning to come up with the necessary guidelines for budget execution and monitoring.
Defending the increase in capital expenditures, the Speaker of the Yobe State House of Assembly, Alhaji Adamu Dala Dogo said that after extensive deliberations, analysis and wide range consultations with MDAs, Civil Socieity Organisations and other Stakeholders, the House deemed it necessary to ‘slightly reduce recurrent expenditures from N43.51 billion to N42.69 billion.
He said with this reduction, total capital expenditures stood at N37.91 billion or 47 per cent of assented budget of N80.6 billion.
He also congratulated the governor for conceiving a budget that is balanced, realistic and people oriented aimed at achieving the state’s goals of rapid socio-economic transformation.
Dogo, however, noted that “the contemporary issues confronting us today are many but the dominant one is the urgent need for revitalization of the socio-economic activities in the state which this budget seeks to squarely address by giving priority to the enhancement of education, fostering unity, peaceful and harmonious co-existence among the people of the state, stimulating economic growth, creating employment opportunities and encouraging communities to embark on self-help projects.
“We also commend the harmonious working relationship existing between the Executive and Legislature. This relationship is based on mutual respect, cooperation and understanding and has enable us achieve successes in many areas of human endeavor”.
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