Kano to reduce 2020 annual budget by 30%

In a bid to address the revenue shortfall being experienced by the state, which is attributed chiefly to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kano State government says it is set to cut the size of the state’s 2020 annual budget by 30 percent.

To this end, a request for a reduction in the size of the budget is to be tabled before the Kano State House of Assembly by Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, any moment from now.

Governor Ganduje, who disclosed this, says the need for a reduction in the size of the budget has become imperative in the face of the current downward movement in revenue accruable to the state from the federal accounts, as well as the internally generated revenue (IGR) sources.

Facts gathered by BusinessDay on the current revenue position of the state suggest that incomes accruable to the state from both the Federal Allocation Accounts and the IGR sources have nosedived by as much about 50 percent.

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Kano State government’s 2020 budget being implemented before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has a total size of N206 billion, with the education sector having the largest vote.

The budget has a capital projection of about N125.174 billion, representing 61 percent of the total amount, and a recurrent vote of N81.033 billion, which amounts to about 39 percent of the budget.

Secretary to the state government, Usman Alhaji, confirmed to participants at a one-day stakeholder consultation meeting on the revision of the budget, held on Wednesday that a draft copy of a new budget that would contain the adjustment would be delivered to the state legislators for considerations, latest by next week.

Giving insight into what is expected in the reduction, Alhaji disclosed that the new draft would be realistic and it would focus on helping the residents of the state to fend for themselves by empowering them.

Commenting on the measure being taken as regards the budget reduction, Nura Muhammad Dankadai, commissioner for budget and planning, appreciated the stakeholders, particularly, the non-governmental organisations for their inputs in the remaking of the budget.

Dankadai assured residents of the state that his ministry was doing everything possible to complete work on a new budget without delay.